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for the number and art; 
tributors are among thi 
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LIBI?.^^I?,"5r 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



iixTTTxint-anu-ine Tresi^ reau 



LUTHER BURBANK 

MAN, METHODS and 
AC HIEVEM ENTS 



AN APPRECIATION 



EDWARD J. WICKSON 
Professor of Agricultural Practice, University of California 



39^ 




illustrated from photographs by SHAW, SANTA ROSA 
TABER, SAN FRANCISCO AND TIBBJJ",TS, SAN FRANCISCO 



REPRINTED FROM "SUNSET MAGAZINE" BY 



Southern Pacific Company 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 



U-S.p3pt.AgrI. 
4 O'03 




Taber, Photo ldther bdkbanKj of santa rosa^ iiokticultltral scientist 




Not only horticuUuristSj hut all who honor men who do things, will find interest, 
instruction and entertainment in these papers concerning Luther Burhank, of Cali- 
fornia, written originally for Sunset Magazine, ly Mr. Burhanh's friend and horti- 
cultural associate. Professor Edward J. Wiclcson, University of California. 

Wherever "the round world over" men Mow flowers and fruits, know of their 
origin, their development and their creation, there is Luther Burhank recognized as a 
man of wondrous power. He has done things. Like that soldier hero, who at the 
outbreak of the Spanish war, carried this Nation's message to Garcia, Mr. Burhank, 
without flourish of trumpets, luithout asking for fame, has heen quietly at work for 
years at his home farm near Santa Rosa, Calif oi-nia, developing and making fruits 
and flowers. Patiently, tenderly, enthusiastically, he has worked with such results 
that all men who know them give him the highest honor and praise. 

A Nature lover, primarily, he is not a man content merely to sit idly by and 
admire Nature in her various moods and creations. He has ventured to sport with 
Nature; to see how bright flowers could he made brighter; small blossoms, larger; 
imperfect fruits, perfect. Thoreau, a Nflture lover, too, was content to rest idly by 
IfaJJen Pond, hut will be famous chiefly through communing with tree, bud and 
blossom. Burroughs and Muir have roved through forests and over mountains, gain- 
ing enjoyment and health for themselves and making the world richer by telling of 
Nature's grandeur. Different from them, and yet like them, in his simplicity of 
heart and modesty of manner, Mr. Burhank, week after week, month after month, 
year after year, has patiently tended gardens of flowers and experimental orchards 
and berry patches, selecting, rejecting, exchanging , cultivating , watching, waiting 
and succeeding. The story of it all has been known to comparatively few. To mag- 
azine writers and those who sought to give the publicity which he surely has deserved, 
Mr. Burhank has been extremely reticent. To Professor Wickson, in these papers, 
he has confided many of the secrets that Nature has told to him. He was fortunate 
in his confidant, for the writer of these papers by reason of his scientific attainments, 
his sympathetic nature, his skilful pen, has accom,pUshed well n task that must ivin 
appreciative praise. 



CHARLES SEDGWICK AIKEN, 

Editor Sunset. 




;ioijl%ftoi]tB)(fiiHik^ 



Man.Methods 
ana Achievements . 

BY EDWARD J. ]YICKSON 
Of the University of California 



FIRST PAPER— MAN 



AT the close of the century tlie world 
had paid half a billion dollars for 
California fruit and fruit prod- 
ucts, for which reward the California 
growers had gathered from trees and 
vines half a trillion pounds of fruit. 
Through two most responsive centers of 
human interest, the purse and the palate, 
California has impressed her existence 
and horticultural resources strongly up- 
on the attention of the world and has 
won distinction. But great as is this 
achievement, both in itself and in its in- 
fluences, it is not the only horticultural 
achievement of California and it is not 
the one which the world will most de- 
light to honoi'. Certainly results are be- 
ing achieved in California in higher hor- 
ticultural arts which appeal to the 
world's sense of greatness more strongly 
than do our great undertakings in com- 
mercial fruit growing. 

To originate new fruits of distinctive 
characters and value is a higher horticul- 
tural art than to multiply the product of 
old fruits. New achievements in the lat- 
ter line often of necessity invade estab- 
lished trade and the vanquished but illy 
brooks the conquest which exalts the vic- 
tor, but the production of new fruits is 
hailed everywhere with delight and 
honor. The volume of the California 
product, and the profit therein, interest 
the counting room ; the beauty and qual- 
ity of the fruit enrich and adorn the 
fair, the market and the sideboard, but 
the new fruits, with characters hitherto 
undreamed of and possibilities beneficent 
and boundless, command the admiration 



of the man of science, the philanthropist, 
the statesman because they involve new 
contributions to the sum of human 
knowledge and are new gifts to the ele- 
vation and advancement of mankind. 

Above even these lofty achievements, 
the origination of new fruits and flowers 
is a manifestation of creative power in 
the mind of man and a demonstration of 
potentiality in human aspiration, insight 
and devoted effort. Thus the recent ac- 
complishment of the horticulturist tran- 
scends horticulture. It also opens new 
vistas to the biological sciences. It sug- 
gests to those who have set metes and 
bounds upon evolution in the vegetable 
kingdom that God's way is not as their 
way and that no matter how great the 
results by natural selection hitherto, ar- 
tificial selection may surpass them all. 
Along this pathway sublime the world 
now concedes leadership to a Californian 
and is eager to know more of him, his 
methods and his achievements. 

Luther Burbank, of Santa Eosa, Cali- 
fornia, was born in Lancaster, Worcester 
county, Massachusetts, March 7, 1849. 
He was the thirteenth of fifteen children 
born to Samuel Walton Burbank by 
three marriages. The elder Burbank 
was a man widely known and in all busi- 
ness and social relations recognized to 
be strong in conviction and unswerving 
in his moral standards. He was an ad- 
mirer and personal acquaintance of Em- 
erson, Webster, Sumner, Beecher and 
other strong men of his day. He de- 
scended from an ancestry of indoor peo- 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



pie, chiefly active in pedagogical and 
manufacturing affairs and disclosing no 
notable taste for open-air pursuits. 

In the records of his mother's family, 
one who delights in evidence of the trans- 
mission of tastes and traits can find the 
source of notable horticultural inherit- 
ance. His mother's father, Peter Goff 
Ross, was a grower of seedling grapes, 
some of which had very good points, and 
other members of the family indulged in 
similar avocations. On the mother's side 
also were the Burpees, well known in 
horticultural annals. 

Whether this thirteenth child of his 
father was thought to lie beneath the 
ban of an unlucky number or not, his 
start upon life was not strong and his 
promise not remarkable, even to those 
who could be expected to see deeply into 
such matters. He was slight of build, 
rather serious in manner and retiring in 
disposition. At a very early age he be- 
gan to make playmates of plants and his 
doll was a cactus plant, fondly carried 
about until an accident shattered the 
plant and a young heart at one opera- 
tion. In school he was a diligent pupil, 
but never able to overcome the fear of 
the sound of his own voice in the pres- 
ence of a throng. He was, however, apt 
with the pen, free in composition and es- 
caped the terror of declamation by com- 
pounding with the schoolmaster for twice 
the prescribed volume of essay writing. 
Quantity was no hardship to the pupil 
and the quality pleased the teacher. 

When quite a boy Luther began work 
in the shops of the Ames Plow Company 
in which his uncle, Luther Eoss, occu- 
pied a position of responsibility. This 
uncle had a liking for horticultural ex- 
periment, and the half days when he was 
released from the shop to work among 
his uncle's seedling grapes and rhubarbs 
were pleasant to the shop boy. In fact, 
lie often looked wistfully through the 
dusty air of the shop upon the distant 
trees and realized that they were calling 
him to pursuits more congenial than 
manufacturing. And yet no allurement 
could distract the attention of the boy 
from what was properly before him. 
Thus early he possessed a concentration 
of mind and definiteness of purpose 
which are eleinents of genius, for when 
about sixteen j-ears of age, he conceived 



and developed an improvement in the 
wood-working machinery of the factory 
which was so valuable that the owners 
offered to multiply his wages more than 
twenty-five times if he would remain and 
give the concern the products of his work 
as an inventor. He decided, however, 
that the society of plants was worth more 
to him than shop work, even at its high- 
est levels, and he soon entered upon a 
■horticultural career on the foundation 
of a seed and plant business. 

Before this his attention was fixed 
upon the origination of improved varie- 
ties by the discussion, in the agricultural 
papers of the time, of the desirability of 
better potatoes and he soon attracted no- 
tice by his achievements in this direc- 
tion, through exhibits made at the coun- 
ty fairs. His first great success was the 
Burbank potato, the relation of which 
to his other work will be discussed later. 
He was proceeding well with the orig- 
ination of new varieties and in regular 
seed and plant business when he became 
convinced of the desirability of Califor- 
nia as a field for horticultural pursuits 
and a decision to emigrate was quickly 
made. He reached Santa Rosa in the 
fall of 1875 with few resources except a 
resolute, confident spirit and ten Bur- 
bank potatoes which he reserved by 
agreement when the whole stock of that 
first great achievement of his was sold 
to a leading Massachusetts seedsman. 
His first business announcement in Cali- 
fornia was an offer of new potatoes and 
it won patronage from enterprising 
growers who were fully assured of the 
deterioration of the common sorts and 
welcomed improvement. He soon built 
up a general nursery business and, at 
the same time, made notable advances in 
plant breeding. 

After a little more than a decade of 
this twofold effort he cleared the way for 
concentration upon the chosen work of 
his life and in 1893 published the first of 
a notable series of announcements to 
which he gave the title "New Creations 
in Fruits and Flowers." Other issues | 
followed in 1894, 1898, 1899 and 1901. 
They contain descriptions and pictures ' 
of his most striking achievements, sug- 
gestions of his horticultural beliefs and 
purposes, and tributes of many who have 
expressed opinions upon his work and 



MAX. il E T H D S A X D A C H I E Y E il E X T S 



its results. These publications produced 
a profound sensation throughout the 
horticultural world. 

Such, in mere outline, is Mr. Bur- 
bank's life. Phases of it may intrude as 
the effort is made to show what manner 
of man he is. 

The little cottage in which Mr. Bur- 
bank has long made a home for himself 
and his mother, a lady of nearly ninety, 
is within the corporate limits of Santa 
Rosa, a beautiful and brisk town of 
about nine thousand inhabitants, situ- 
ated about fifty miles northerly from 
■San Francisco. Here he purchased a 
tract of four acres in 1878 and upon it 
has maintained his residence and busi- 
ness headquarters until the present time. 
Here, too, part of his propagation has 
been done, though he owns other lands, 
a few miles away, of lighter soil and 
warmer exposure which, because of supe- 
rior fitness, have been used for his larg- 
est cultiiral work. 

The visitor approaches the modest cot- 
tage through closely trimmed box bor- 
ders which must be taken as a reminis- 
cence of old-fashioned. New England 
gardening, for such are seldom seen in 
California. In its summer garb of de- 
ciduous climbers the little dwelling loses 
its conventional outlines in picturesque 
verdure. All aroiind the dwelling are 
areas of lawn and beds of plants, the lat- 
ter being in many cases the working col- 
lections of the propagator for there are 
many enclosures of small area which 
contain an almost incredible number of 
species. In one case, for instance, forty 
species of golden rod are grouped for 
close study of their characteristic growth 
and bloom, while in another a large col- 
lection of sedums is massed as "mother 
plants" of new races of their kind. All 
the world makes contributions to these 
study tables of Mr. Burbank, and the vis- 
itor to the home takes particular delight 
in them. Upon the lawn are various 
trees, the chief being an ivy-clad dracoena 
and a towering araucaria. Contiguous 
to the dwelling are greenhoiises, potting 
shed and barn — exceeding in cost and im- 
pressiveness the- owner's house, which is 
an orthodox arrangement for farm struc- 
tures. Along the street front are six 
trees of great beauty, a hybrid of Eng- 



lisli and California lilack walnut — the 
first cross-bred tree of Mr. Burbank's 
growing. 

In his modest home and in the very 
simple arrangements with which he car- 
ries on his notable work, the discerning 
visitor can find many suggestions of the 
spirit and disposition of the man. He 
utterly neglects the impression iipon peo- 
ple which even what might be considered 
the proper paraphernalia of his work 
would make. He grows no slow plants; 
he gives no prominence to rare things; 
he indulges in no display of instruments 
and accessories which one who works so 
largely by plant surgery could excusably 
delight in. He shows no library, no lab- 
oratory, no case of medals and certifi- 
cates. He is, in fact, so utterly regard- 
less of the furniture and bric-a-brac of 
his profession that casual visitors are 
disappointed that so great a man should 
have so few things, and even the visiting 
expert is misled into the conclusion that, 
because he is ushered into no library, Mr. 
Burbank is neglectful of the garnered 
wisdom of the ages. Such an error is the 
fault of the observer. He is widely read 
in biological science in all its leading 
lines, but he approaches no work by the 
compilation route. His strange insight 
and memory enable him instantly to 
sieze upon and retain the facts and prin- 
ciples which he desires for direct use, or 
as contributions to the fulness of his con- 
ceptions. For many years he read large- 
ly to doubt and disprove, for his experi- 
ence and observation led him to different 
conclusions. This was only natural be- 
cause his work was in advance of the rec- 
ords; but he still diligently sought for 
gleams of truth available to him in 
current scientific literature and was 
strengthened and encouraged thereby. 

Mr. Burbank never surrounded him- 
self with elaborate appliances of re- 
search because he believed that he was 
dealing with very simple propositions. 
By patient search through the infinite 
variety of manifestations, which ap- 
peared in connection with each experi- 
mental effort, he saw principles and laws 
revealing themselves so clearly that he 
could reach their demonstration with the 
naked eye and hand. For such a gifted 
seer neither weird altar fires, nor incense 
cloiid, nor ecstatic state could add to in- 




TibbiUi, photo 



MR. BUEBANK AMONG HIS FLOBAL FRIENDS 



MAN, METHODS AXD ACHIEVEMENTS 



11 




sight. He could 
hear the "still 
small voice" with- 
out preparatory 
earthquake or 
whirlwind. Like 
David of old he 
could do his work 
with smooth peb- 
bles from the 
l)rook; and he 
cast aside the elab- 
I >rate armament of 
his scientific 
brethren lest it 
should impede his 
movements. Mr. 
Burbank's meth- 
ods and results are 
a new illustration 
of the old truth 
that great discov- 
eries are often 
made with the 
simplest means. 
The victory in- 
Mii. BCRBANK IN cHAEAc- licrcs iu tlic mau, 

atus. Some intimations of this fact may 
appear later, in connection with the dis- 
cussion of his methods. 

The simplicity of Mr. Burbank's home 
and surroundings is a manifestation also 
of his simple tastes and requirements. 
He is generous in his expenditures, 
broad in his views and a lover of the best 
in all lines he pursues, but such has al- 
ways been the nature of his work and his 
associations that high living has not in- 
truded upon his horizon. All its hoUow- 
ness and ostentation would be hateful to 
him, but so liberal is his view and so 
tender his regard for the tastes and de- 
sires of others that he would be forgetful 
of condemnation. The simple life and 
home environment of this Ynan, whose 
name is so widely honored, are not main- 
tained as a rebuke to those who adorn 
their successes with luxurious surround- 
ings and strive for social efhinence as 
wider recognition of that success. All 
such things are absent from his thought, 
either to possess or to condemn them. 

Of Mr. Burbank's personal appearance 
little need be said. The ample portrait- 
ure which the publishers provide in con- 



nection with this writing will give the 
physiognomical reader opportunity for 
original analysis. He is of medium stat- 
ure and rather slender form ; light eyes 
and dark hair now rapidly running to 
silver. His countenance is very mobile, 
lighting up quickly and as quickly re- 
ceding to the seriousness of earnest at- 
tention, only to rekindle with a smile or 
relax into a laugh, if the subject be in 
the lighter vein. He is exceedingly quick 
in apprehension, seeming to anticipate 
the speaker but never intruding upon 
his speech. There is always a sugges- 
tion of sh3'ness in his manner and there 
is ever present a deep respectfulness. 
Those who do not know him well may 
easily misinterpret this as reserve or pre- 
occupation. These characters are notably 
absent in the man. He is frank, open- 
hearted and outspoken, though all these 
traits must be sought beneath the cover 
of his reticence. All his actions are art- 
less and quiet; even the modulations 
of his voice follow the lower keys. He 
talks freely, confidently and enthusias- 
tically of his work to one who manifests 
interest in it, but says little of his own 
relation to it. This is merely because his 
personality appears to him as incidental 
to the work rather than one of its lead- 
ing factors. 

Those who meet Mr. Burbank but cas- 
ually are prone to err in their Judgment 
of him. They are apt to magnify his ret- 
icence until they see in it timidity, self- 
depreciation, inexperience, embarrass- 
ment and the like. All these forms of 
weakness are absent from the man. He 
is self-confident but not self-assertive. 
He is fearless and not to be easily turned 
from the way he expects to go, but he 
does not insist that others shall go his 
way. He seldom errs in his Judgment of 
men and he usually gives the loud and 
effusive visitor the right of way in con- 
versation, studying him meantime with 
a wondering eye. Even from this defen- 
sive state into which he is thrown, quiet 
repartee will occasionally come to show 
that he is holding an upper hand and 
suffering neither from embarrassment 
nor inexperience. To one whom he ad- 
mits to the inner circles of his friendship 
he is a most delightful man. To such 
he shows strength, self-trust and wonder- 
ful resources of mind — all these master- 



12 



LUTHEK BURBA NK 



fill traits, however, being ruled by a 
spirit of exquisite tenderness toward all 
men and unbounded charity for their 
beliefs and actions. For his few close 
friends he has a depth of affection and 
gratitude and self-denying devotion 
which are seldom met with. Upon their 
views of the man, from the advantage of 
the closest acquaintance, must the public 
form its conception of him. One well- 
known Californian, Mr. S. F. Leib of 
San Jose, president of the Board of 
Trustees of Stanford University, stands 
nearer to Mr. Burbank by the ties of full 
knowledge and reciprocated affection 
than any other man. To him Mr. Bur- 
bank delights to acknowledge debts of en- 
couragement, stimulation and incentive 
which have sustained him and carried 
him through the periods of depression 
which come to all lone workers. At the 
writer's request Mr. Leib pays this ex- 
pressive tribute to his friend : 

Friendship has arisen between us which 
makes us like brothers. I think I know as 
nearly the innermost part of his life as any 
other man in existence. I have never known 



a nature more full of absolute sweetness. He 
is absolutely honorable in every way and is 
honest to a fault. He lives, what is termed in 
the parlance of the day. a strenuoiis life, far 
too much so for his physical endurance. He 
is an intense man, a man who carefully plans 
for results and then works for their fulfilment 
with a patience that exceeds that of Job 
himself. It may be a question of years to 
arrive at a single result. Necessarily before 
arriving at success in seeking to accomplish 
a given result, he must meet with many 
failures, but nothing seems to daunt him 
until success finally crowns his efforts. 

In disposition Mr. Burbank is an op- 
timist. He is filled with enthusiasm 
which lacks nothing of strength and 
warmth because its manifestation is al- 
ways ruled by the characteristic quiet- 
ness of the man. Optimism is the force 
which underlies his self-confidence and 
his great expectations; it sustains him 
through the most protracted effort and 
enables him to seize strongly upon slight 
indications of progress. Optimism en- 
ters into his most fundamental concep- 
tions and imparts courage to pursue 
them. Without optimism he could not 
think of his work ; much less achieve it. 




IN THE BUKEANK EXPERIMENTAL GARDE.N 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



13 



From his optimism proceeds enthusiasm, 
but his temperament saves him from be- 
ing an enthusiast. His imagination is 
ample and varied in its richness, but the 
keenness of his insight frees him from 
visions and fallacies. It is true that his 
traistfulness and tenderness have at times 
been misplaced and he has experienced 
disappointments and sorrows, but these 
have added to his worth as a man by 
their refining and softening influences. 
Disciplined by his exf>erience he has 
learned well the lesson that disappoint- 
ment is incidental and not the conclu- 
sion of any valuable work, nor of any 
true thought, and he will remain hope- 
ful, enthusiastic, self-reliant and force- 
ful to the end. 

Mr. Burbank is a better biisiness man 
than one usually finds among optimists. 
As already suggested, he came to Cali- 
fornia with scant resources and with 
some responsibilities. He began forth- 
with to establish himself and to lay the 
foundation for the greater work which 
he held steadily in mind and for which 
he knew considerable funds would be re- 
quired. He secured land and entered 
upon a nursery enterprise, fortunately 
Just at a period when great fruit-plant- 
ing fervor prevailed and good prices 
were paid for trees. He accumulated 
money rapidly and made investments in 
real estate which have, on the whole, 
proved satisfactory, though they had to 
take the tortuous path to which such 
ventures are generally born. The net 
result of his financiering is a compe- 
tence fit to cover the moderate require- 
ments of his modest living to its end. 
In this respect, Mr. Burbank departs 
from the usual course of optimists in 
science and invention and secvires re- 
spectable standing as a business man. It 
is also a sign of business ability that the 
last decade, which has been wholly given 
to his chosen work of creation of novel- 
ties of a most striking character, as will 
be shown later in these papers, has 
brought income equal to the great cost of 
the work. 

According to commercial standards, 
the wonderful production which Mr. 
Burbank has achieved should have yield- 
ed him wealth, but the man with the 
ledger should remember that commercial 
profit is not the measure of such work. 



It is not in that class. It is comparable, 
rather, with scientific discovery, for 
which nations, institutions or wealthy 
individuals lavishly provide; and the 
demonstration that a man can pursue 
his quiet course amid discoveries fit to 
craze an ordinary enthusiast, and can 
command money enough to meet the 
large expenditures necessary to original 
investigation, work and experiment upon 
so large a scale, entitles Mr. Burbank to 
high rating as a business man. He had 
no time to organize companies and cap- 
italize his enterprises, nor to strive for 
subsidies because of the vast public value 
of his achievements. He encouraged no 
promoters, he made no appeals to those 
who have influence with governing 
hoards or legislatures. So far as the 
writer knows he never asked a favor in 
the way of support or influence, though 
the air has been filled with suggestions 
along such lines, from his friends. He 
undertook his campaign like an adven- 
turous general who strikes into the heart 
of an unknown region, confident in his 
own purposes and strength and resolved 
to command his supplies from the coun- 
try traversed. Of course, he could not 
stop for the development of enterprises. 
His purpose was conquest of the un- 
known. He is emerging now into the 
full sunshine which gilds the brows of 
conquerors, and the country he has trav- 
ersed is open to development of incalcu- 
lable richness. 

This achievement demonstrates Mr. 
Burbank's possession of unique power 
and resources. Confidence, self-contain- 
ment, conservative commercial ability, 
uncompromising rejection of speculation 
in his own glittering commodities, gen- 
tle declination of all suggestions of 
eleemosynary appeals to the public — all 
these are characteristic of his progress. 
He stands today, as he has always stood, 
a man great enough to cherish great 
ideas and to attain results without allow- 
ing the heart flutters of satisfaction or 
the promptings of ambition to lighten 
his pressure upon the solid ground of 
safe and secure advancement along his 
chosen course. 

It is probable that every man of bal- 
ance and force feels satisfaction and a 
just pride in the possession of such pow- 
ers and does not enjoy belittlement of 



14 



LUTHER BURBANK 




Upon the laicn are various trees, the chief being an 

ivyclad dracoena and a towering araucaria 



them. Mr. Burbank rightly feels that 
the suggestion that the public ought to 
provide for his work is too often a re- 
flection upon his own ability to provide 
for it. He is pained by disclosures of 
that point of view in the eyes of his 
friends, and they have wounded his deli- 
cate sensibilities by what seemed to them 
complimentary allusions. The claim 
that his work ought to be assumed by the 
government or by an institution in the 
public interest, because it is capable of 



indefinite expansion under his direction, 
by multiplying agencies to work out his 
suggestions, is a somewhat different 
proposition, and will be considered in 
another connection later. 

In spite of the strength which that 
proposition discloses .at first glance, 
fuller consideration of it begets a doubt 
whether, indeed, Burbank might not 
mean less to coming generations as a 
sidelight to a bureau than as a lone star 
glowing in the horticultural horizon. 



M A N . M E T H D S A X D A C H 1 E V E M E X T S 



15. 



Christopher Columbus, from a central 
otRce at Cadiz, with ample funds and tel- 
ephonic connection with all the ports of 
Europe, could have ordered voyages of 
discovery to all points of the compass 
and have placed every continent and 
island on the map in a few years. The 
world would have found itself and have 
lost its hero. The devotion to conviction 
and the heroic struggle of Columbus, 
and the picture of him as, in the mo- 
ment of his triumph, he fell iipon his 
knees on the shore of the new world, 
have been, for more than four centuries, 
a sublime incentive and example. From 
these the world has realized vastly more 
than if Columbus, as chief of an inter- 
national bureau of discovery, had won 
the ultimate acre of existing land. It is 
not what is given to men, but what they 
are incited to do for themselves, that 
makes for exaltation and progress. The 
world has unfolded as civilization has 
risen to use new areas. Plant devel- 
opment is one of the phases of civiliza- 
tion, and it jnakes new conquests as they 
are needed in the onward rush of man- 
kind. We are now at the beginning of 
an epoch of accelerated motion in this 
direction. Burbank is the prophet of 
this epoch. Obeying the command of 
the Infinite, he is carrying the gates of 
Gaza. Let not the Delilah of modern or- 
ganization shear him of his god-given 
strength and make him like other men. 

Current conceptions of Mr. Burbank 
involve errors more or less serious. Con- 
servatism, as embodied in eiiorts at hy- 
bridization along what are called scien- 
tific lines, has not hesitated to place him 
on the plane of charlatanry, while cred- 
ulous people have lifted him to what 
seems to them an exalted state of won- 
der-working magic and wizardism. 

He has worked through a country not 
yet officially surveyed, above the path- 
way of the contemporaneous scientists, 
and it is not wonderful, then, that they 
should fail to recognize him for a time. 
Confident of his earnest desire to read 
nature aright and convinced of the ac- 
curacy of the results of his patient efforts 
in this direction, he has been hurt in his 
sensitive spirit by what seemed to be aca- 
demic distrust of him. Comments have 
been made by recognized authorities 
which seemed to charge that he was 



holding to fallacies in recognizing prin- 
ciples which he had fully demonstrated 
in his own researches and experiments. 
Conservatism, in fact, almost claimed 
that he was making a travesty of science 
for the amazement of the horticultural 
gallery. 

All through this affliction, Mr. Bur- 
bank has been patient, never taking up 
the pen except to correct some miscon- 
ception of the science involved in his 
work. He was strong in his faith that 
judgment of his motives and methods 
would ere long be Just, and he was will- 
ing to wait, but he became restless when 
any one proclaimed limitations in na- 
ture which he knew did not exist. But 
though Mr. Burbank bore, in his quiet, 
serious way, the burdens of distrust and 
misapprehension which fall usually to 
the lot of those who extend the frontiers 
of human knowledge, it has been his 
good fortune to realize relief sooner than 
many other frontiersmen in science. He 
submitted his novel achievements freely 
for expert judgment. He gave the full- 
est information of their origin and de- 
velopment. He cordially welcomed those 
in whose Judgment and intelligence he 
had confidence to full examination of 
all his materials and practices, and peo- 
ple from all parts of the world satisfied 
themselves of his honesty and frankness 
as well as of the wonderful novelty and 
originality of his accomplishments. 
Probably the last doubt of Mr. Bur- 
bank's genuineness passed from the aca- 
demic mind when the assembling in San 
Francisco, in 1899. of the Association of 
American Agricultural Colleges and Ex- 
periment Stations irave a large group of 
scientific men from all parts of the coun- 
try an opportunity to critically examine 
him and his work on his own grounds at 
Santa Eosa and Sebastopol. The re- 
ports which these visitors published, 
through many channels at the east, were 
eloquent of doubts removed and demon- 
strations accepted. Since then, as 
though to atone for the errors of the 
past, distant comments upon Mr. Bur- 
hank and his work have been most cor- 
dial and appreciative. 

An opposite phase of Mr. Burbank's 
experience is found in the admiration of 
those who have looked upon his achieve- 
ments as involving superhuman elements. 



K 



M AN. il E T H D S AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



17 



They early proclaimed liim the "Wizard 
of Horticiilture."' Nothing but his ex- 
treme amiability enabled him to under- 
go the imputation of Witchcraft which 
the term implies. He accepted epithets 
of this character as merely conveying 
the popular acknowledgment that his 
achievements were wonderful. No one 
knew better than he how new and won- 
derful they really were, and, in his meas- 
ureless kindness of heart, without pro- 
test he allowed all people to speak of 
them in the terms which seemed to them 
most appropriate. Some of his friends 
doubted the wisdom of this course. They 
\\ould have approved a mild rebuke up- 
on those who seemed to cast a shade 
\ipon the genuineness of his efEort by 
applying to him epithets which pertain 
to fakirs, and it may be that his seeming 
acceptance of the terms encouraged the 
impression of the academicians that he 
might be, indeed, a man of visions and 
fallacies. But in the end it matters lit- 
tle. The universal acknowledgment now 
that he is working with wonderful in- 
dustry and insight for the demonstration 
of new truth and the application of it, 
makes it of little moment whether the 
term, "Wizard of Horticulture," was em- 
ployed in admiration or interrogation. 
In both cases it has outlived its useful- 



Mr. Burbank has been too fully oc- 
cupied with the chief work of his life to 
develop other lines of talent and taste 



which are manifestly within his com- 
mand. One of these is literary effort. 
Aside from his announcements of fin- 
ished w'ork which have already been men- 
tioned, he has written three papers for 
public occasions. In these he disclosed a 
depth of thought, originality of concep- 
tion, tenderness of sentiment, and withal 
a breadth of view, which were something 
of a surprise to those who had only 
thought of him as an indiistrious and 
skilful plantsman. In these writings 
his conception of the nature of the 
plant and of the relation of the mind 
of man thereto, are stated, not only 
with clearness, but with charming lit- 
erary style. 

In what has been written about Mr. 
Burbank there have been full tributes to 
his industry, the breadth of his work 
and of the patience of his pursuit of his 
achievements, but in his own writings 
we have an intimation, such as we have 
never had before, of the richness and 
keenness of his imagination, without 
which all his other qualities would fail 
of fruition. Here lies his creative fac- 
ulty, and it is not unlike that which has 
given the world its great poems and 
works of art. The world recognizes Mr. 
Burbank as a great man for what he ac- 
complishes; it is waiting to grant him 
similar honor for what he thinks. The 
relation of his thought to his methods 
and achievements will appear later in 
the discussion of those branches of our 
subject. 



SECOND PAPER— METHODS 



from pholographs hij M'lUium Shan . Hiinta Rusa, California 



EVER since Mr. Burbank's now 
fruits and flowers began to at- 
tract attention there has been the 
keenest anxiety to learn his methods. 
The wildest reports have been current 
and the ordinary person has been ready 
to believe that either some tricks of hor- 
ticultural juffo-lery were practiced, or at 
least some profound secret was relied 
upon to secure the wonderful results. 
To those who held such lieliefs it seemed 
clear that a revelation from Mr. Bur- 
bank was a thing to be most ardently de- 
sired. This idea largely prevailed in the 
invitation extended to him, by the Amer- 
f ican Pomological Society, to prepare an 
essay on "How to Produce New Fruits 
and Flowoi's," for its meeting in Sacra- 
mento in 1895. The announcement of 
his consent thereto was widely taken to 
mean that Mr. Burbank would make 
public his methods of wonder-working. 
The audience was alert to catch every 
word of the anticipated recipe. Here 
are a few of the ingredients: 

f In pursuing the study of any of the univer- 

sal and everlasting laws of Nature, whether 
relating to the life, growth, structure and 
movements of a giant planet, the tiniest plant 
or of the psychological movements of the 
human brain, some conditions are necessary 
before we can become one of Nature's inter- 
preters or the creator of any valuable work 
for the world. ♦ * * Preconceived no- 
tions, dogmas and all personal prejudice and 
bias must be laid aside: listen patiently, 
quietly and reverently i . lessons, one by 

one, which jMother Natmv i.as to teach, shed- 
ding light on that which was before a mys- 
tery, so that all who will may see and know. 
She conveys her truths only to those who are 
passive and receptive * * accepting truths 
as suggested, wherever they may lead, then 
we have the whole universe in harmony with 
us. * * * At last man has found a solid 
foundation for science, having discovered that 
lie is part of a universe which is "eternally 
unstable in form, eternally immutable in 
substance."* 

Some of Mr. Burbank's hearers were 
rather disappointed when he gave them 
philosophy instead of prescription. They 
were surprised to be told that, in the 
work of producing new fruits and flow- 

•I'roceedinKS of tlie American Pomological So- 
ciety, 1895, page 50. 



ers, a correct conception of the constitu- 
tion of the universe, involving the rela- 
tion of the mind of man to the phenom- 
ena of Nature, is the very starting point. 
All aims, purposes and methods in orig- 
ination of new plants are conditioned 
upon such a conception, and Mr. Bur- 
bank, deeply conscious as he is of this 
fact, could not lose sight of the^philos- 
ophy which actuates his efforts. He met I 
a perverse generation seeking after a 
sign, but he could give them no sign, ex- 
cept such as they could descry in the 
very nature of things with which they 
had to deal. 

A little more definite statement of his 
view of the relation of plant nature to 
human insight and effort is found in an- 
other of Mr. Burbank's public utter- 
ances : ___^ 

The chief work of the botanists of yester- 
day was the study and classification of dried, 
shriveled plant mummies whose souls had 
fled, rather than the living, plastic forms. 
They thought their classified species were 
more fi.xed and unchangeable than anything 
in heaven or earth that we can now imagine. 
We have learned that they are as plastic in 
our hands as clay in the hands of the potter 
or color on the artist's canvas, and can readily 
be molded into more beautiful forms and 
colors tlian any painter or sculptor can ever 
hope to bring "forth. * » * The changes 
which can be wrought with the most plastic 
forms are simply marvelous, and only those 
who have seen this regeneration transpiring 

before their very eyes can ever be fully con- 

vinced.* 

In this connection it woiild not be 
wise to go beyond this mere suggestion 
of the philosophy underlying Mr. Bur- 
bank's work. The words, "eternally un- 
stable in form, eternally immutable in 
substance," which he delights in quot- 
ing, disclose his conception of the wel- 
come which Nature extends to those who 
work diligently and intelligently for new 
forms. It is a broad view, of course. It 
recognizes no limitations nor classifica- 
tion barriers, except as they arise in the 
mind of man, and then they are indica- 
tions of narrowness in man and not in 
the Creative plan. Mr. Burbank is dis- 

•Essay at Floral Congress in San Francisco: 
Pacific Rural Press, July G. lOol. 



MAN, METHODS AND A C H I E V E il E N T S 



19 



posed to insist streiniousl)' on his view 
of Nature, and it has been an inspiration 
in all his work. 

Having established in his own mind 
this natural tendency to variation, by 



\'ation in his chosen field, is a gem of 
many facets, shooting bright gleams of 
significance through all the many phases 
of his work and revealing opportunities 
apparent only to his trained perceptions. 
Selection, to i\Ir. Burbank, is a constantlv 




THE FEENCH PliUKE .IND ITS OFFSPKING, THE GIANT PEUKE 



wide reading of the great works on evo- 
lution and by a wider COTerience in in- 
stances of variation in ^nt life than 
has ever fallen to the lot of any other 
man, Mr. Burbank naturally looks upon 
artificial selection as the chief agency 
through which his many achievements 
have been attained. All the methods by 
which variation can be induced or pro- 
moted are merely avenues through which 
forms are led to the bar of selection. Of 
course, selection is an old art. It was 
practiced even in prehistoric civilization, 
because history begins with improved 
forms of plants and animals. But one 
can readily see that selection, in the 
hands of a man of Mr. Burbank's broad 
conceptions and almost illimitable obser- 



uufolding principle. It excited his 
youthful interest and curiosity; it en- 
grosses the deepest thought and employs 
the finest arts of his manhood; it will 
irradiate his last glance at earthly scenes. 
Selection is, then, a first and last art 
in the development of new forms of 
plant or animal, interesting or useful to 
mankind. With the founders of civiliza- 
tion it was selection of the results of nat- 
ural variation which seemed desirable; 
Mith the beginner of the present day it 
is usually the same. Mr. Burbank be- 
gan that way and it became the first of 
his methods..,- "■ ;was his fortune that 
one of his eaiiiest achievements proved 
so notable. In his youth the older va- 




FOUE OF THE OLD STANDARD VAEIETIES AND ONE OF THE NEW 



L U T H E K B IT H B A N K 




-seedlings capahlc 
influocc of i 

rieties of potatoes gave clear signs of 
degeneration and interest was keen for 
better varieties. Many were striving for 
them and splendid resiilts had been se- 
cured. He cast his twine line and pin 
hoolc in the same waters. He planted a 
lot of Early Rose potatoes in his mother's 
garden in Massachusetts and watched 
for the seed balls in which his possibili- 
ties would be enclosed. Varieties of po- 
tatoes, with vegetative energies diverted 
by long multiplication from the tuber, 
become scant in seed production. On 
the whole patch young Burbank found 
but a single seed ball, and watched its 
growth day after day with anxious in- 
terest. One morning it could not be 
found and the youth was crushed in 
spirit. After a time the thought came 
to him that possibly some dog bounding 
through the patch had dislodged the 
precious seed ball, and the ground was 
searched. It was soon found some feet 
away from its parent stem. Twenty- 
three small seeds were well developed. 
From one of them came the Burbank 
potato which gave its originator his first 
grasp upon fame, and exerted an influ- 
ence in determining his life work. Thus, 



jf huddiiuj or i/yuftiiiij ore introdueetl to the foreinij 
Id plants of the same class 

selection, in its simplest form, was the 
first of Burbank's methods. Thus for- 
tune, in her most generous mood, decreed 
that one of the boy's twenty-three seed- 
lings should be notable, that, in after 
years, the man might have courage to 
burn over sixty thousand plants of one 
kind at one time because none of them 
were notable. 

But, though artificial selection, prac- 
ticed simply upon the forms resulting by 
natural variation, may do for the boy- 
hood of the race or the individual, it is 
only a beginner's art in either case. As 
there is progress in mastery of the art, 
there must be richer material for its ex- 
ercise. Nature has her sportive disposi- 
tion under control; she has developed 
character; old allurements have lost 
their force ; she must be given new 
temptations to lightness. Herein lie Mr. 
Burbank's chief methods. In their es- 
sence there is nothing new ; but the dar- 
ing, the subtlety, the volume and the pa- 
tience with which they have been pur- 
sued have never been equaled, or even 
approached. 

To create a disturbance in those parts 




Sliaic, Photo, Haiita Rosa, Cal. 



A WHITE BLACKBERRY 

ONE OF MR. BDEBANK'S MOST STARTLING 

ACHIEVEMENTS 



22 



LUTHER B U E B A N K 



of the plant world which he chooses for 
his operations is one of Mr. Burbank's 
first aims ; to shape the form and direc- 
tion of that disturbance is another; to 
select, from the myriad manifestations of 
snch disturbance, those forms which pos- 
sess new beauty, usefulness, or other sig- 
nificance to mankind, is the ultimate 
motive of his effort. 

It is an old experience of mankind 
that plants and animals are changed in 
form and habit by transfer from native 
wildness to domestication. Relief from 
the old struggle and enjovTiient of what 
]nay be called care and comfort promote 
variation. In the wild state variation is 
repressed, because only those excep- 
tional variations which minister to sijc- 
cess i"n the struggle survive. In the cul- 
tivated state variation is not measured 
by this cruel standard. This fact is of 
constant value in Mr. Burbank's work, 
and the importance which he attaches 
to cultivation and domestication, as a 
method in his work, cannot be better told 
than in his own words : 

Tliere is not one weed or flower, wild or 
domesticated, which will not. sooner or later, 
respond liberally to good cultivation and per- 
sistent selection. What can be more delight- 
ful than to adopt the most promising indi- 
vidual from among a race of vile, neglected 
weeds, down-trodden and despised by all ; to 
see it gradually change its sprawling habits, 
its coarse, ill-smelling foliage, its insignifi- 
cant blossoms of dull color to an upright 
plant with handsome, glossy, fragrant leaves, 
iilossoms of every hue and with fragrance as 
pure and lasting as could be desired. ♦ * ♦ 
Weeds are weeds because they are jostled, 
crowded, cropped and trampled upon, scorched 
by fierce heat, starved or, perhaps, suffering 
with cold, wet feet, tormented by insect pests 
or lack of nourishing food and sunshine. 
Most of them have no opportunity for blos- 
soming out in lu.xurious beauty and abun- 
dance. A few are so fixed in their habits 
that it is better to select an individual for 
adoption and improvement from a race which 
is more pliable. This stability of character 
cannot often be known except by careful trial, 
therefore members from several races at the 
same time may be selected with advantage; 
the most pliable and easily educated ones 
will soon make the fact manifest by showing 
a tendency to "break" or vary slightly or, 
perhaps, profoundly, from the wild state. 
Any variation should be at once seized upon 
and numerous seedlings raised from this in- 
dividual. In the next generation, one or 
several even more marked variations will be 
almost certain to appear, for when a plant 
once wakes up to the new influences brought 
to bear upon it. the road is opened for endless 
improvement in all directions, and the opera- 



tor finds himself with a wealth of new forms 
which is almost as discouraging to select 
from as. in the first place, it was to induce 
the plant to vary in the least.* 

Mr. Burbank's comments are given at 
such length, in part to emphasize the 
importance he attaches to this very old 
and very simple method of securing new 
plants. Of course, the penetrating reader 
will see that, though the method is sim- 
ple, the application of it affords oppor- 
tunity for insight, for keen discrimina- 
tion, for acute perception of slight ten- 
dencies in variation and for patient 
work, beyond description. But all these 
would fail of notable results were they 
not actuated by a true conception of 
what is desirable — an ideal toward the 
attainment of which every effort is di- 
rected. 

Beyond the elementary forms of dis- 
turbance in plant life which pertain to 
changes in environment lie the methods 
which are popularly looked upon as more 
wonderful, viz., crossing or hybridiza- 
tion. AVithout attempting any exposi- 
tion of the results of this act, for they 
are amply set forth in the literature both 
of science and horticulture, it may be 
briefly suggested that Mr. Burbank has 
two main purposes in his recourse to 
cross pollenation. One is to promote dis- 
turbance, or, as it may be stated, to up- 
set the equilibrium which has been es- 
tablished in the plant. Seedlings from 
cross-bred parentage show wide range 
in variation, while the seedlings from 
cither parent without crossing may rarely 
depart from the established type. When, 
therefore, something more than can be 
secured by change of environment is de- 
sired, crossing is resorted to. The re- 
sult is conflict between the dominant 
traits of the ancestry, and while these 
champions contend and, perhaps, disable 
each other, other traits of remote ances- 
try, long held in bondage by these dom- 
inant traits, rush to the front and dis- 
play their old prowess in some of the 
offspring of the unwonted parentage.- 
Thus, there is spread before the progajt- 
gator a new field, rich in strange formi 
endowed with strange characters, upo: 
which he applies the underlying prin 
ciple of selection, wisely or otherwise, 
according to the depth of his insight and 
the aeutencss of his perceptions. 

♦Address before Floral Congress. loc. cit. 




THE SHASTA DAISY AND ONE OF ITS PARENTS, THE EASTERN OX-ETE DAISY 



LUTHER B U E B A N K 




IMPKOVED BEACH PLUM 

A MARVEL OF PEOLIFICNESS 



The other purpose in crossing is tlie 
combination of characters so that the 
offspring may show, in one new entity, 
the desirable traits of both parents, or, 
by continued crossing, accumulate such 
traits from several ancestors. Of course, 
bad traits are accumulated or intensified 
by the same process, so here asain selec- 
tion is invoked, with fullest powers, to 
escape the evil and secure the good. 

In his crossing Mr. Burbank has gone 
beyond all old conceptions of affinity 
within lines of botanical relationship 
and has secured startling results, but 
mention of them pertains rather to the 
discussion of his achievements than of 
his methods, and will appear in that 
later connection. 

What, then, are ilr. Burbank's meth- 
ods in cross pollenation or hybridizing? 
In this branch of his work the admiring 
multitnde has scented magic and the con- 
servative scientist has suspected decep- 
tion. Both have thirsted for informa- 
tion as to methods. The most absurd re- 
j.iorts have been current, which have de- 
ceived many. Mr. Burbank's public ut- 
terances have not given the details of his 
work. In his few addresses it has seemed 
to him more important to contend for 
the principles he had demonstrated than 



to describe manipulation. When it was 
stated that he gathered pollen by buck- 
ctsful and pollenated with gangs of 
Chinese armed with dredges and bel- 
lows, he regarded as a Jest what, no 
doubt, some credulous jjeople believed. 
It is pertinent, therefore, that a careful 
account of Mr. Burbank's pollenating 
methods be presented to the reader. 

The supply of pollen is generally se- 
cured by gathering a quantity of the 
anthers of the desired pollen 
parent, usually the day before 
the pollen is to be used, and dry- 
ing them carefully. When in 
|:i roper degree of dryness, the 
])ollen is secured by gently shak- 
ing or sifting the mass of dry 
:inthers over a watch crystal un- 
ril its siirfacc is dusted over with 
the ]X)lle]i, the dust film appear- 
ing most clearly on the lower 
j);irts of the curved surface. 
I';aeh genus, each species, and 
sometimes each variety requires 
modifications which are suggest- 
ed by experience. The largest 
quantity of blossoms of a single variety 
which My. Burbank has handled at one 
time is about a pint. He has found that 
properly dried pollen ordinarily retains 
its efficacy about one week ; it might, 
perhaps, in many cases retain its power 
much longer. 

The jDrcparation of the blooms of the 
seed parent consists in removing about 
nine-tenths of the bloom buds when they 
begin to show the petal color, leaving, in 
trees which bloom freely, about one in 
ten of the natural bloom to be operated 
upon. This is for convenience of operat- 
ing and to avoid the setting of too many 
seeds for the tree to properly perfect. 
Before the petals open, each of these 
biuls is carefully cut into with a small, 
sharp knife blade, in such a way that the 
petals and a part of the sepals and all 
the attached anthers are removed as the 
knife makes its circuit, leaving the pis- 
tils exposed but uninjured by the opera- 
tion. The accompanying sketches will 
assist the lay reader to an understanding 
of the process. The removal of the cor- 
olla balks the bees and other honey- 
seeking insects, either by the loss of color 
or by absence of alighting place, or both. 
The buzzing Archimedes finds no place 
for his lever and wearilv goes his wav, 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



25 



the honey unsipped and the pistil free 
from contact with his pollen-dusted 
body. Mr. Burbank finds it, in most 

eases, unnecessary to cover 
f^ the emasculated bloom to- 

avoid intrusion of undesira- 




— the petals and a part of the 
sepaJs and all the attached an- 
thers are removed (enlarged) 

lile pollen by insect agency. 
He chooses for pollenation 
the time when the first hum 
of the bees is heard in the 
trees. He finds all conditions 
at that time most favorable, 
and believes the pistil is then 
in its most receptive state. 
The instrument of pollena- 
tion is the finger tip. Ap- 
plied to the dusted surface 
of the plate, either by a mere touch 
or a slight rubbing, enough pollen ad- 
heres. The finger tip is then quickly 
touched to the pistils of the prepared 
blossoms one after another. They wel- 
come the pollen and the fnictifying 
agency begins at once its journey to the 
ovule. No matter what 
comes now, on the wind or 
otherwise. The opportunity 
for outside pollen has 
passed. The touch of the 
finger has covered the stig- 
ma with the chosen element 
and sealed it safe from fur- 
ther intrusion. 

In his choice of 

the unaided hand 

as the instrument 

of pollenation, Mr. 

Burbank has not 

only vastly simplified and 

made more expeditious the 

act of pollenation, but there 

Before the petals open, is also involved a 

each of the buds is care- nrnfnund tvibufp 

fully cut into with a P^OJ-Ounu uiuute 

small, sharp knife Hade to the SUperioritv 

^° """^^ of the trained hand 

in directness and delicacy for what lies 
within its unaided scope. Eecourse to 
instruments and appliances is often es- 




sential, but, in many lines of human 
ett'ort, the "direct contact of the finger 
tip works wonders impossible with in- 
termediaries. It is an interesting re- 
flection that when Nature's direct 
agencies, the bustling bees, are put to 
flight, the human hand enters directly 
for man's specific purpose. Naturally, 
particular skill is acquired by long prac- 
tice, and some of Mr. Burbank's most 
trusted employes have done much of 
this work for years. 

The seed resulting from cross-pollen- 
ated bloom is, of course, gathered with 
great care ; seedlings are grown, and the 
closest watch is kept upon their char- 
acters and habits from germination on- 
ward. The little seedling may disclose 
its combined parentage or give sign that 
it has drawn up something from the pro- 
found depths of the converging streams 
of its remote ancestry, long before it 
reaches blooming or fruiting stage. 
Tokens which would escape the ordinary 
observer become clear as milestones indi- 




EXLAKGED CROSS SECTION OF 
AN OPEN FLOWER, SHOWING 
THE PARTS REMOVED BY 
THE KNIFE 



y eating the life courses 

of the new plant to the 
skilful propagator. The art of selec- 
tion begins, then, early in the devel- 
opment of the crossbred plants. Incalcu- 
lable numbers of them may be destroyed 
for their too evident adherence to the old 
types, and only one or, perhaps, thou- 
sands, be retained because they give 
promise of breaking away from such 
bondage. "Whenever such selected seed- 
lings are capable of budding or grafting 
they are thus introduced to the forcing 
influence of old plants of the same class 
and hurried to flower or fruit in this 
well known way. A single old plant or 
tree may thus force its sap into the cells 
of hundreds of buds or grafts of new 
varieties, and can be conceived to be as 
surprised at the multitude of strange 
forms and colors appearing on its old 



26 



LUTHER BURBANK 



branches as a mother 
hen would be at hatch- 
ing a brood of bluejays. 
Upon the motle}' throng 
of flowers or fruits thus 
secured selection again 
is exercised — selection 
from all points of view 




What Nature's 
direct agencies, the hustling 
bees, are put to flight 
(See page 25) 



and toward ends still 
far remote, because 
desirable characters 
or traits may be dis- 
tributed through 
many individuals. 
They must be combined and concen- 
trated. Cross pollenation, now, between 
such individuals must be employed, and 
from this new shuffling of the cards 
another discriminating, patient effort 
for arrangement into suits or sequences. 
It is a stupendous game of solitaire 
which the capable hybridizer plays among 
the innumerable forms, colors, odors, 
flavors, textures, growing, blooming and 
fruiting habits, which surround him as 
his reward for disturbing the natural or- 
der of things in the plant world. Amid 
this indefinite variety there must be in 
his mind no confusion. He is wise if he 
has had an object from the beginning — 
a conception of something new and desir- 
able, perhaps a definite combination of 
objects to be attained. If he has a main 
object, say a certain color in a flower, he 



must pursue it 
faithfully, seiz- 
ing upon the 
slightest trend 
in that direc- 
tion. jSTo mat- 
ter if the plant with that 
precious endowment lacks 
vigor, seize upon it still. In- 
tensify the character de- 
sired and add vigor or other 
desirable qualities by later 
crosses or still further selec- 
tions. But it is possible to 
develop these other qualities 
in other sets of the same 
plants, selecting each of the sets for a 
different end and thus preparing for 
combination later. While seeking any 
object it is desirable to raise a multi- 
tude of seedlings from the same cross, 
to have a wider field in which to exer- 
cise selection and to mviltiply the chances 
of a fortunate appearance. 

Take as illustration the group of 
forms including one of Mr. Burbank's 
most popular recent creations, the 
"Shasta Daisy." It was built upon a 
combination of the grace of the Japa- 
nese, the tall, stiff stem and bold but 
coarse flower of the European and the 
whiteness and abundant bloom of the 
American species. After the combina- 
tion was effected size was secured by se- 
lection, but the bloom was flat, with large 
center; next, selection was made for 
cup shape and superior whiteness ; next, 
to secure doubling of the petals and to 
maintain size, and now a fully doiible 
flower has been reached, of good size, but 
not quite so large as the largest single 
variety. This work included numerous 
cross pollcnations and the growing of 
hundreds of thousands of seedlings, all 
of which passed beneath the quick eye of 
Mr. Burbank in the process of selection. 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



2? 



(From page 25) 
— the human hand 
enters directly for man's 
specific purpose 




Anotlier illustration 
wide cross-breeding and 
combination is the new 
plum, "Alhambra." Upon 
the French prane was used, 
first, the pollen of a seed- 
ling which resulted from crossing the 
Kelsey with Pissardi, a bronze-leaved 
branch of the Myrabolana species. 
Upon the bloom of the offspring of 
this cross was used the pollen of an- 
other seedling grown from a cross of 
Simoni and Triflora, and, upon this off- 
spring, pollen from a cross of Americana 
and Nigra. One of the seedlings from 
this last cross yielded the fruit named 
Alhambra, a large freestone with many 
good points and notable as being the first 
perfect freestone with Japanese blood. It 
includes in its ancestry the blood of the 
three great races of plums, European, 
American and Japanese, and thirteen 
years' work are included in its building 
up. The pedigree of Alhambra may be 
graphically expressed as follows: 



Kelsey . 



Pissardi (Myrabolana). 
Froncli Prune. 



Simoni x Triflora. 



Americana x Nigra 



The letters, a, h, c, signify unnamed 
cross-bred seedlings which are included 
in the ancestry of the resultant Alham- 
bra. Mr. Burbank has quite a number 
of plums with six crosses in their pedi- 
grees, the parents, in manj' cases, being 
themselves the offspring of earlier 
crosses. In the wide combinations thus 
resulting selection has to deal with the 



constant recurrence of 
the botanical characters 
which all the ancestry 
contributes to the com- 
plex offspring, these char- 
acters often appearing so 
clearly as to be easily recognized at a 
glance, even by the most casual ob- 
server. 

This writing has probably already 
wandered too far into the drouth of 
technical discussion to interest the gen- 
eral reader, and yet only a few hasty 
outlines of methods have been given. To 
fill in these outlines with the shading 
necessary to develop special features and 
the perspective desirable to show the 
mutual relations of the outlines would 
require a volume. 

Treatises on color and perspective can- 



LUTHER BURBANK 




PARTIAL VIEW OF BURBAXK S TRIAL 



not make artists. There is, beyond the 
material and method, the creative brain, 
which employs them in a way to excite 
wonder and admiration. It is not other- 
wise with Mr. Burbank's methods. He 
has no secrets which he recognizes and 
guards as such. He has, of course, the 
teachings of many years' experience and 
of observation keener, more penetrating 
and more patiently pursued than any 
other worker in his line can command. 
He uses this endowment constantly and 



it grows with use. It needs no safe- 
guarding, for it cannot be stolen nor can 
it be given away. It is non-transferable, 
just as are the mental penetration and 
grasp and the unflagging energy and in- 
dustry which, using all these methods 
and materials as creative imagination 
conceives their suitability, is compassing 
achievements which are new and grand, 
both in science and horticulture. A 
sketch of these achievements will be the 
next undertakincr in this series. 




THE BETTIFUL CUP-SHAFE AND DAZZLING WHITENESS OF THE SlIAST 



THIRD PAPER— ACHIEVEMENTS 



from photuyraphfi hi; M'illiain Shaic^ Santa Rosa, Californi 



WE come now to the division of 
these sketches of the life and 
work of Luther Burbank which 
will seem to many the most interesting 
and important. What has the man, en- 
dowed as has been claimed, and follow- 
ing methods which have been outlined, 
achieved for himself and for humanity? 
Obviously, it is premature to ask this 
question concerning one who is still so 
young that it may be reasonably doubted 
whether he has yet reached his greatest 
wisdom and work; but what matters it. 
if the present point of view be true, that 
it command a beginning rather than an 
ending ? In fact, there can be little more 
accomplished within the necessary limits 
of these sketches than to disclose a point 
of view — possibly to slightly assist the 
observer to occupy it — and then to trust 
to his sight and discernment for appre- 
ciation of relations and significance. 
There is in the work of Mr. Burbank, 
even at this point in his career, an array 
of facts and a wealth of suggestion which 
are almost overwhelming to one who has 
head and heart for them. 



In the account given of his life it was 
intimated that although he began as a 
horticulturist and still remains an honor 
to the guild, Mr. Burbank's thought and 
work have passed beyond even the high- 
est levels of horticulture, known as hor- 
ticultural science, into the domain of 
science itself. To be judged, then, by 
his peers, men of science, as well as hor- 
ticulturists, must review his achieve- 
ments through all coming years. Let us 
realize in advance this method of the 
future, by an appeal to one upon the side 
of science, well acquainted both with the 
dicta thereof and with the work of Mr. 
Burbank to briefly characterize him and 
his achievements. For this purpose per- 
mission has been kindly granted to tran- 
scribe from the manuscript notes of Dr. 
W. J. V. Osterhout, assistant professor 
of botany in the University of Califor- 
nia, the following significant sentences : 
Mr. Burbank has become widely known to 
scientists by reason of the extraordinary in- 
terest and value of his work. Untrammeled 
by traditions, he has not hesitated to enter 
fields which the scientific worker would have 
ignored. The value of his work in thus open- 




Siberian Uaspberry 



THE PIll.ML'S BEIiHY AND ITS PARENTS THE FIP.ST RECORDED FIXED SPECIES PRODUCED BT THE 

HAKD OF MAN 



30 



LUTHER BURBA NK 




ing lip new possibilities and stimulating re- 
search in these lines is immeasurable. 

Not onlj' for stimulus, but also for methods 
of work, are we indebted to Mr. Burbank, A 
botanist, who is known for his researches on 
plant hybridization carried on during the 
last twentj' years, was quite incredulous 
when told of Mr. Burbank's methods of work. 
After a visit to Santa Rosa, he confessed that 
Mr. Buibank's skill was well nigh incompre- 
hensible, and that he had learned enough 
during the brief visit to compensate him for 
tlie journey from Europe. 

Since the passing of the scientifie dogma 
of the fixity of species, the study of varia- 
tion has come steadily to the fore. We wish 
to know not only what variations occur natur- 
;illy, but what can be produced by various 
artificial means. I know no better student of 
variation in both aspects than Mr, Burbank. 
Throughout a long series of years he has 
been gathering plants from every quarter of 
the globe. With patience akin to Darw*n"s 
he has familiarized himself with this great 
store of material growing under his eyes. He 
has succeeded, to an extraordinary degree, in 
mastering the intricacies of variation in a 
very wide range of plants. By observation 
and intuitive insight he has gained wonder- 
ful knowledge of the nature of these plants, 
their possibilities and latent characters. As 
a result of his labors we have, at Santa Rosa, 
a laboratory for the study of variation on a 
gigantic scale and a magnificent array of 
facts and discoveries of great value to science. 

The true scientist is not satisfied with de- 
tails; he wishes to reduce them to formula", 
to general laws which shall vitalize knowl- 
edge and provide for future progress. Such 
a one finds in Mr. Burbank a kindred spirit, 
who seems to discover great laws by a flash 
of genius, such is the swiftness of his intui- 
tion. His thought is so fresh and unhack- 
neyed that it is impossible to give an ade- 
quate impression of its suggestive arid vital- 
izing quality. From his unbroken study of 
Nature he comes with a word of authority 
and power. In his ability to penetrate be- 
hind the facts to the laws which make facts 
significant he resembles Darwin, whose spirit 
and method he exemplifies. 

On the basis of this candid statement 



from Dr. Osterhout, we can claim for 
Mr. Burbank achievement in science 
which will forever link his name with 
those whom the world counts greatest in 
the interpretation of Nature, and as 
those only thus live who earn the right 
by great deeds, his fame will always 
stand witness to his service. 

Having thus taken a sweeping glance 
through other eyes at Mr. Burbank's 
achievements from the point of view of 
science, the horticultiirist returns to his 
own standards of interest in them with- 
oiit further reference to their value to 
science. The scientific reader must de- 
velop that aspect of the facts for him- 
self. Even the facts themselves are so 
varied and numerous that they defy enu- 
meration, and a few generalizations, 
some of which involve many years of 
close effort on the part of Mr. Burbank, 
are all that can be undertaken. 

Let us look, first, at some general 
characters of fruits which he has dem- 
onstrated to be susceptible of striking 
and valuable modifications, illustrating 
by brief reference to specific achieve- 
ments. 

1. Varieties have been secured which 
are prolific where the older sorts have 
proved unsatisfactory. The intermin- ! 
gling of the native American and Japa- 
nese species of plums, which has been a 
leading line of Mr. Burbank's work, has 
made it possible to grow luscious fruit in 
various regions of the United States 
where the old species failed. Professor 
Waugh of Vermont, speaks of the in- 
creased production east of the Rocky 
mountains as remarkable, and adds: 
"The introduction of the hybrid plums 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



31 



marks an epoch in plum culture."* And 
he traces the opening of this epoch to the 
introduction of two of Mr. Burbank's 
creations. In the south, both on the At- 




— Ihc tiuiohliny of the hcacli plum 

lantic and Pacific sides of the country, 
the Japanese species and its hybrids are 
making plum growing successful where 
the long-tried European varieties yielded 
failure and disappointment. This is 
strikingly the case in Southern Cali- 
fornia. 

ilr. Burbank is now working largely 
on hardy varieties, and the effort will re- 
sult in securing luscious fruits where at 
present trying conditions destroy all but 
small and often ill-flavored wildlings. A 
striking instance of this is found in work 



"PUims and Plum Culture." 1901, page 



now in progress in the ennobling of the 
'"beach plum" — prunus maritima. This 
hardy savage never fails to bear every- 
where and is thrifty under most trying 
conditions of dry rocky or soggy, satur- 
ated soil, and its fruit, which is not much 
larger than a full-sized huckleberry, is 
also utterly worthless for anything but 
preserving. It blooms a month after 
other plums, but, by extra arrange- 
ments, eastern and Japanese plums 
were retarded so that their pollen held 
its vitality to be used in uplifting this 
dejected species. By many crosses it 
was proved to be possible to retain 
its wonderful productiveness, while 
tlie lowly bush assumed better foli- 
age, more upright form and fruit with 
really good flavor, which, while about 
as large as an ordinary eastern plum, 
retains a seed as small as a cherry stone. 
This group of new fruits has bright 
colors, oval and round forms which 
are never flattened and have no suture. 
Most of the best varieties thus orig- 
inated came, not from the first seed- 
lings of the cross, but from seedlings of 
them, or from the "second generation," 
as it is called in plant breeding. Many 
thousands of selected third-generation 
seedlings are being grafted this winter 
(1902) for fruiting. These, by growth 




PAETIAL VIEW OF MH. BURBANK'S TRIAL GROUNDS 

-a laboratorii for the study of variation on a gigantic scale 



32 



LUTHER B U K B A K K 



and foliag'c, readily show that still more 
, startling improvements have been pro- 
duced. 

The change in characters developed in 
a California wild plum — prunus sub- 
cordata — is also notable. Some varieties 
have been secured which are twice the 
size of the wild forms, greatly improved 
in quality and matchless in beauty of 
coloring. The plant is also of larger 
growth and increased productiveness. 

Another very important undertaking 
in the line of developing hardiness in the 
popular kinds of fruits lies in the direc- 
tion of frost-resisting blossoms. Mr. 
Burbank has selected a class of Japa- 
nese-American hybrid plums which seem 
to have iron-clad or steel-lined, frost-re- 
sisting blossoms. He has watched them 
in all stages of bloom during seasons of 
the heaviest frosts, morning after morn- 
ing, and even when the petals would be 
frozen and brown the first morning and 
the yoimg leaves frozen at the tips, the 
stamens and pistils would withstand all 



the frosts and the trees afterward show 
a full crop of fruit. This is, perhaps, an 
observation never before recorded in 
fruit culture. 

2. A-^arieties have been produced 
which, by early and late ripening, pro- 
long the fruit season three or tour 
months. This has been done with plums, 
as varieties have been originated which 
ripen two or three weeks earlier than the 
cherry plum, the old standard of earli- 
ness, and others which do not reach ma- 
turity until the holidays. The same 
wide range is shown by Mr. Burbank's 
new grapes, descended from an Isabella 
sport of California origin, known as 
Isabella Eegia. The parent is a large 
black grape ; its offspring are various in 
colors and flavors. One is a white, seed- 
less variety of exquisite flavor, which 
ripens with the earliest of its class, and 
another ripens for Christmas and New 
Year's. These have been selected from 
thousands of seedlings for their distinc- 
tive and startling characters. 




The pineapple Quince^ suggesting the characteristic flavor of its namesake 



MAN", METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



33 




Crussiny plums and apricots has i/ielded a distlnclivcly new kind 
of fruit which Mr. Burbank fitly names the "plum-cot" 



Another phase of the elfort for the ex- 
tension of the fruit season is to secure 
varieties with long-keeping qualities, 
either on the tree or after gathering. Mr. 
Burbank has seedlings of the Wickson 
and other plums which will remain on 
the tree in prime condition for use for 
six to nine weeks in hot weather, when 
many of the older varieties collapse as 
soon as ripe. 

Development of varieties with partic- 
ular times of ripening has also received 
due attention. The Sugar prune with 
the full density of juice of the Prune 
d'Agen, twice its size and a month earlier 
in ripening, is an achievement of world- 
wide significance and in this condensed 
account must stand as an exponent of 
much other work in creating varieties to 
meet definite needs in time of ripening. 

3. Varieties have been produced 
which show almost incredible precocity 
in bearing fruit. Mr. Burbank has 
reached such wonderful results in his 
wide experimentation that he is con- 
vinced that precocity can be bred into 
all plums so that they will show fruit as 
early as seedlings of herbaceous plants 
like blackberries and strawberries. His 
work for years has been in the line of en- 
couraging this habit by selection, and he 
follows the practice of rejecting those 
seedlings which do not fruit the second 



year after the grafting of their seedling 
wood into older growths — that is, the 
third year from planting the seed. In 
the same degree, perhaps, this precocity 
can be developed in other hard-wood 
fruiting plants. Mr. Burbank has had 
chestnuts in fruit in eighteen months 
from the time of the sprouting of the 
seed, and the seedlings of these are found 
generally to possess the same early bear- 
ing habits. 

4. Surprising changes in the natural 
structure of fruits have been secured. 
Perhaps the most notable is the elimina- 
tion of the shell inclosing the kernel in 
which are called stone fruits. Mr. Bur- 
bank has a number of plum varieties of 
this character which are called "stone- 
less." The kernel is fully developed but 
naked — no hard siabstance intervenes be- 
tween it and the pulp. To take up a 
plum and bite through it without hesita- 
tion requires education, so strong is the 
conception of the danger involved ; but 
to bite freely and find the flavor en- 
hanced by the nutty savor of the kernel 
brings reward in the new sensation which 
the palate experiences. This is particu- 
larly the case with the stoneless prune. 
The kernel of the French prune has. 
after cooking, a delicious and unique 
flavor. To combine the flavors of pulp 
and kernel, to gain the nutritive projier- 



34 



LUTHEE BUKBANK 




THE I'EACII-ALMOND A HTBRID OF WAGER PEACH AND LANGCEDOC ALMOND 



ties of the latter and to escape the 
tedium and awkwardness of ejecting the 
stone, constitute an advance in prune 
character and motive which it is diffi- 
cult to overvalue. Mr. Burbank has done 
this with the plum. There is every rea- 
son to think that adequate skill and pa- 
tience would do the same thing with all 
stone fruits. Similar in kind would be 
the removal of the shell from the almond 
and walnut. Mr. Burbank is sure he 
could do this in ten years if it were de- 
sirable, but the protective function of a 
thin shell on a nut might make the 
change of no practical advantage. 

6. The ranges of flavor and aroma in 
several fruits have been enriched and 
extended. The flavors which have, by 
long experience, come to be regarded as 
characteristic, can no longer be relied 
upon, and the sense of taste alone has 
become an unsafe guide in identification. 
The Asiatic element has brought to the 
new plums most novel characters in 
flavor and fragrance which, by combina- 
tion with the old, have wrought surpris- 
ing effects. In fact, a new scale of these 
characters must be made by careful ob- 
servation and analysis. Mr. Burbank's 
Bartlett plum has the flavor and frag- 
rance of the popular pear for which it is 
named, and his Pineapple quince not 
only suggests the characteristic flavor of 
its "namesake, but it suggests also the 
apple by its tender flesh in both fresh 
and cooked form. His Climax plum fills 
a room with fragrance like that of the 
pineapple, and in the same fruit striking 
deliciousness of flavor shades down to an 



after taste suggesting the banana, in 
marked contrast to the acridity which, in 
some plums, almost leads the palate to 
regret preceding delight. 

6. Radical changes in form and color 
have also wrought havoc with old forms 
of speech. "Plum colored" and "plum 
shaped" may live as the memory of an 
old conception, but, judging by the wide 
change in varieties chosen for planting, 
they may soon pass beyond the possibility 
of proof, for in color plums now add all 
the shades of the cherry to their former 
range of hues. In form they have en- 
tered the domain of the apple and the 
tomato and have inverted the conven- 
tional form of the pear. 

7. The foregoing results have been 
attained by selection and by crossing 
within the limits of species and variety. 
Still more surprising achievements have 
been reached by crossing friiits which be- 
longed to genera heretofore supposed to 
be hedged about by impassable barriers. 
The crossing of plums and apricots has 
yielded a distinctively new kind of fruit, 
which Mr. Burbank fitly names "the 
plum-cot," and of which he has a num- 
ber of varieties. All have the general 
form and aspect of an apricot, but are 
more highly colored than either a plum ' 
or an apricot and have a skin uniquely 
soft, with a silky down and a slight 
bloom. The flesh in one variety is yel- 
low, but some of them have deep crim- 
son, pink and white flesh, and they are 
both free and clingstone. The seed often 
resembles a plum pit, but not always. A 
rich line of flavors is developed which 



MAN. METHODS AXD ACHIEVEMENTS 



35 



bid fair to Ije a surprise to fruit eaters. 
While the group of plum-cots is. per- 
haps, the most notable of the products of 
crossing fruits of diiferent botanical 
genera, many other such crosses have 
been successfully made, not always, how- 
ever, with results of value from a hor- 
ticultural point of view. While peach 
and almond crosses always give good 
bloom and fruit, the almond and plum 
crosses have only yielded monstrosities 
in bloom, sometimes lacking stamens or 
pistils or petals, and no fruit has been 
secured. The peach and plum cross has 
never resulted in fruit. The apricot and 
Japanese plum cross is attended with 
difficulty and the results seem dependent 
upon varieties used. Seedlings from the 
pear and apple cross never reach size, 
and, so far, have never borne fruit. The 
strawberry and raspberry cross, though 
blooming profusely, never bears fruit, 
while the black raspberry and dewberry 
cross always dies when it blooms. On 
the other hand, the blackberry and rasp- 
berry crosses are usually good, and some 
of those which have become popular, like 
Phenomenal and Primus, are so fixed in 
their type that they reproduce their com- 
posite characters from seed with more 
regularity than the accepted species of 
rubus as found in nature. 

Let the reader now find relief from 
the categorical form of statement in the 
story of an experiment in which the 
achievement consisted in the les- 
sons of a failure. Alioiit ten 
years ago Mr. Burbank, having 
fresh in mind the results in 
ci'ossing what are usually con- 
sidered non- related forms (such 
as we have mentioned and many 
others like them) by the hun- 
dreds of instances, began to 
think that the limit of possi- 
bility in crossing had hardly 
been approached and decided to 
prospect over a wide range. He 
chose a plant for a seed parent 
which would not intrude fruit 
from its own self-fertilized 
bloom. Such a plant is the na- 
tive California dewberry. He 
placed a plant in the middle of 
a ten-acre lot, remote from 
others of its own kind, and found 
that it bore no fruit except on 



hand-pollinated blossoms. Here, then, 
was a receptive plant in isolated situa- 
tion, and he proceeded to treat the 
blooms with pollen of apple, quince, 
pear, cherry, hawthorn, Chinese quince, 
strawberry and a few others of the ros- 
acefP, and kept record of fruits and seeds 
of each berry obtained. He saved all 
the seeds, planted them in one plot, and 
secured over five thousand seedlings. 
They were the strangest lot of plants 
ever seen. About nine-tenths of them 
grew shoots as smooth as an apple twig, 
and the other tenth had short prickles. 
Some had foliage like a raspberry, others 
like a strawberry, and others single 
leaves, like the apple or pear. The plants, 
for the most part, assumed rather an 
upright or tree-like form. Wliat won- 
derful novelties might be expected from 
such plants ! Disappointment dawned, 
however, when it was found that a large 
part gave no bloom, but those which 
blossomed had flowers various in size and 
in all shapes from deep pink to white. 
Disappointment increased when only 
two plants bore fruit. One was some- 
what like a blackberry, but larger, with 




ONE OF MR. BURBANK S HYBRID BLACKBERRIES 



36 



LUTHER B U K B A ^-^ K 




a unique flavor and pale color; the other, 
of a similar general appearance but more 
nearly globular, was of a dark mulberry 
color. Disappointment culminated when 
the closest scrutiny showed that neither 
of the fruits had any seeds. Observation 
of the growth seemed to indicate that 
some startling crosses had been secured, 
b\it as there was no seed from which sec- 
ond generation revelations could be 
gained and no fruit which promised to 
be of horticultural value, the ground was 
cleared and the cost of the large experi- 
ment charged to the experience account. 
This account runs into many figures, 
but the result is wisdom. In one year 
Mr. Burbank burned up sixty-five thou- 
sand two and three year old hybrid seed- 
ling berry bushes in one grand bonfire, 
and had fourteen other grand bonfires 
of similar size on his place the same sum- 
mer. JiTst after fruiting time the un- 
worthy are destroyed, and it is not 
strange that Mr. Burbank should be 
known to some of his wondering neigh- 
bors as "the man who used to have a 
big nursery, but now raises acres and 
acres of stuff and every summer has it 
all dug up and burned." 



Quite in contrast with the foregoing 
is the record of achievement with the 
flowering currant of the Pacific coast 
(Ribes-sanguineum), which is quite 
popular abroad as an ornamental plant. 
Mr. Burbank considered it susceptible of 
improvement. To start with the hard- 
iest form, he secured plants from far up 
the coast, in British Columbia, and gave 
it the opportunity to respond 
to generous care and cultiva- 
tion. He soon found varia- 
tion iipon which to practice 
selection, and in this way 
secured larger size and more brilliant 
color of bloom. He noticed also that 
the plant was disposed to show varia- 
tion from the scantily borne, small 
ruit full of large, angular seeds, and 
so deficient in pulp that distinctive 
flavor could hardly be discerned. Un- 
der selection and cultivation there 
came, in unusually long clusters, large 
andsome blackberries so covered with 
dense bloom as to appear white when 
ripe, with lessened toughness of skin, 
fewer and smaller seeds, great increase 
of pulp and improvement of flavor. Thus 
the same series of careful selections has 
yielded strikingly better flowers and 
fruits of both earlier and later ripening 
and borne on more sturdy and compact 
bushes. Other generations of the plant 
will be grown before introduction to the 
public. In addition to these results by 
selection a cross has been secured be- 
tween the foregoing and another native 
currant from near San Francisco (Ribes 
sanguineiim var. ghitinosum). The vast 
number of seedlings secured vary ex- 
ceedingly, and there is promise of unique 
and valuable new fruit — in fact, it would 
not be surprising to attain size and qual- 
ity of fruit, beauty of bloom and strong 
growth, all superior to any currant now 
in cultivation. 

Another satisfactory excursion into 
the unknown is found in Mr. Burbank's 
plum and cherry crossing. This cross 
is readily made, and fruit is borne abun- 
dantly. A decidedly new element was 
introduced by having the evergreen cher- 
ries of the Pacific coast, both the local 
species, Prunus illicifolia, and a Mexican 
species. These have been found to cross 
readily both with deciduous cherries and 
with plums. Fruits of this ancestry are 



MAN, METHODS AXD ACHIEVEMENTS 



37 



still under trial, and are promising. 

The cherry-like fruits of the elaeagnus 
are also being brought forward into truer 
cherry character. The bush has been 
cleared of its thorns, its form improved 
and its vigor increased. The main pur- 
pose, to enlarge and improve the quality 
of the fruit, which is produced in sur- 
prising abundance, has also been at- 
tained to a notable degree. There is a 
prospect that it may be as good as a 
cherry. 

Though Mr. Burbank has made and 
named a few peaches of unique and es- 
timable characters, he has as yet, in that 
direction, only looked into a field of won- 
derful novelty and richness. He has 
crossed peaches and nectarines as far as 
the fifth combination, and has secured 
fine fruit, but not superior to that which 
exists in the varieties separately. He 
has, however, demonstrated that in the 
second and third generations there is a 
wonderful tendency toward new forms; 
white peach seedlings have borne yellow- 
fleshed nectarines with deep crimson 
skin, while white and red nectarines have 
borne white peaches in great variety in 
appearance, character and season of rip- 



Pears and apples have yielded less 
notable results than other fruits. With 
great patience for eight years apple 
seedlings were grown, the seeds of each 
variety separately, and the seedlings 
afterward grafted into separate trees. 
About half the cases showed crossing, 
half did not. The second generation did 
not show promising variation. Apples 
are by nature very variable, with a strong 
tendency to revert to wild forms. Mr. 
Burbank believes they can be bred into 
classes according to season, color or other 
character, but they do not show the plas- 
ticity under breeding that other fruits 
do, and do not offer such desirable in- 
dividual traits to the process of selec- 
tion. 

In this sketch reference has been 
chiefly restricted to the commoner kinds 
of fruit as embodying the widest interest 
to the reader. Almost innumerable 
growths of obscurer origin and less re- 
pTite are being carried along similar lines 
of ennoblement, which may lead them to 
eminence and great service to humanity. 
But the whole range of food plants con- 
stitutes only half of Mr. Burbank's 
sphere of activity. His achievements 
with flowers will next receive attention. 



FOURTH PAPER ACHIEVEMENTS 



Illustrations from photographs by William Shaw, Santa Rosa, Califomh 



ME. BURBANK'S achievements 
with flowers, which, from a hor- 
ticultural point of view, must be 
regarded as a wonderful elevation and 
ennoblement of floral growth, are a dem- 
onstration of the breadth of the man. He 
has done more than any other man ever 
did with fruits, and to this must be added 
achievements greater than can be con- 
ceded to any other man with flowers. 
Others have accomplished wonders with 
a single fruit or flower, or with small 
groups of each or of both, but in his 
breadth Mr. Burbank stands alone. That 
he could thus extend his effort and still 
retain the marvelous penetration which 
has enabled him to bring from profound- 
est depths wonders undreamed of by 



others, may seem somewhat at enmity 
with the modern claim that close special- 
ization is the secret of depth in work. 
But really there is no contradiction. Mr. 
Burbank's close specialization consists in 
his conception of Nature as simple in 
plan and principle and in his application 
of methods which embody the few prin- 
ciples which he descries. In this respect 
he is a most rigid specialist and the fact 
that he uses hundreds of kinds of plants 
and millions of individual plants does 
not militate against the wonderful con- 
centration of his mind upon the simple, 
but profound phenomena which unfold 
under his eye and hand. That he can do 
this; that he can recognize and employ 
innumerable manifestations in the pur- 



38 



LUTHER B U R B A N K 




HYBRID YELLOW CALLA 



suit of his special purposes is wonder- 
ful because it is only possible 
through the possession of rare 
mental endowment and excep- 
tional industry, lighted and 
brightened b}' enthusiasm. 

Is aught more required for 
achievements with flowers '■. 
Yes, indeed ; the common mind 
will not accept insight and in- 
dustry as adequate equipment 
for true work with flowers. One 
must have sentiment rich, free 
and impulsive. Ardent love of 
flowers is a prerequisite to all 
cultural success. That Mr. 
Burbank is not lacking in de- 
votion, let his own words de- 
clare : 

"Who does not love flowers? 
For whom will not flowers 
make more sunshine ? Fowers 
from the hand of a loved one — 
what sweeter, sunnier gift can 
be thought of? Flowers speak 
to us of poetry, music, life and 
love. Flowers always make 
people Ijetter, happier and more 
hopeful; they are sunshine, 
food and medicine to the soul." 



percept 



Evidently, then, Mr. Bur- 
liank lacks not full apprecia- 
tion of the esthetical and eth- 
ical influence of natural beauty 
and though our space limits 
will require us to discuss his 
lloral achievements from other 
points of view, it will be com- 
forting to remember that love 
incites his devotion to the en- 
noblement of flowers and light- 
ens his labors. 

Mr. Burbank began his work 
with flowers in his old home in 
Massachusetts. At first he 
used the seedsmen's collections, 
testing, selecting and crossing 
them. He began growing east- 
ern wild flowers to gain better 
acquaintance with them. Soon 
after arrival in California in 
1875, he began collecting seed 
of native plants for foreign 
patrons and this necessitated a 
close study of the plants, their 
times of blooming, etc. To his 
ions thus sharpened there came 




IITBRIP MI.V, 



rnOLTFIC BLOOMING HABIT 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



39 



imprL'Ssions of marvelous tendency 
toward variation in California. Strik- 
ing differences appeared in the same 
species grown under different condi- 
tions of soil and climate; almost in- 
credible differences, though the locali- 
ties were not far distant from each other. 
This observation not only suggested lines 
of effort, but furnished incentive and en- 
couragement beyond anything he had ex- 
perienced at the east. Early also in Mr. 
Burbank's experience there came the 
thought to improve the popular garden 
flowers, to enhance their charms and at- 
tractiveness and to render them more 
serviceable for various purposes. This 
work faithfully pursued for a quarter of 
a century has produced results which are 



now recognized in all parts of the world, 
and so varied that brief writing cannot 
fully enumerate them, much less compass 
any adequate characterization. The at- 
tempt must be made to convey striking 
facts concerning blooming plants which 
are best known to the general reader and 
for this reason most widely interesting. 
One of the garden plants which Mr. 
Burbank first took in hand was the glad- 
iolus, which has long been a popular 
flower in California, but it had obvioiis 
defects; the stem was wind-whipped be- 
cause of its length and lank because 
thinly set with florets. Their petals, too, 
were so scant in substance that they lost 
form and color in the face of the hot sun, 
the long spike becoming unsightly below. 




NEW HYBRID AMABYLLIS FIVE-EItillTHS NATDRAI, SIZE 



40 



LUTHER BURBANK 



wliile still newer bloom was expanding 
above. Mr. Burbank used the ganda- 
vensis, a Belgic hybrid, for his founda- 
tion, and added later several species from 
South Africa. After working ten years 
with perhaps a million seedlings, select- 
ing first for endurance of sunheat and 
wind, then for more colors and for clear- 
ness, novelty and distinctiveness of hue, 
and then for more compactness of bloom 
upon the spike, he reached a variety 
which set florets with lasting petals all 
around the spike like a hyacinth and not 
the single, fiat, side-bloom of the old 
forms, and the first of this type was pa- 
triotically named "California." Selected 
seedlings gave more of this improved 
type of bloom with better lasting quali- 
ties, and more surprising shades and 
with petal-substance thick and lasting so 
that, to use Mr. Burbank's own appre- 
ciative words : 

"The first flower remains fresh to say 
good morning to the very last one to 
Ijloom, even though the sun may be doing 
its best ; none of the older varieties can 
stand such a test." 

That was in 1893, and soon afterward 
the whole gladiolus stock found an ap- 
preciative purchaser in Mr. H. H. Groff, 
the leading American specialist in that 
line, whose knowledge of Mr. Burbank's 
achievement with his favorite plant is 
outspoken. He ?ays : 

*"This coll'- Jon is the best strain of 
gandavensis ■ * several with spe- 

cially stiff petals quite distinct from or- 
dinary types ; the peculiarity of the flow- 
ers blooming around the spike like the 
hyacinth was also his contribution * * 
the vitality of the Burbank strain is re- 
markable * * greater than that of 
all the other strains of so-called Amer- 
ican hybrids which constitute the prin- 
cipal stocks of commerce on this con- 
tinent." 

Nor does America constitute their field 
of victory; they are displacing other 
strains in other parts of the world. 

In the ennoblement of the amaryllis 
his achievements are not only notable in 
themselves, but they illustrate well how 
in his work Mr. Burbank looks upon his 
own efforts from all points of view and 
endeavors to meet all considerations. He 



*H. H. Groff, in Cyclopedia of American Hor- 
iilture, page 647. 



began very early with the amaryllis, when 
he was, in fact, too poor to buy bulbs, so 
he took seed from all sources for a start. 
Later he bought bulbs, paying as high as 
five dollars each in some cases. Thus, 
with seedlings of his own and with pur- 
chased bulbs, he proceeded for ten years, 
crossing in a small way and selecting 
seed from the best types of flowers alone. 
As his materials multiplied his aims ex- 
tended; he worked for more abundant 
bloom and secured more flowers to the 
scape and more scapes from the bulb; 
then he sought more rapid multiplication 
of bulbs and off-sets and greater precocity 
in bloom. This was a more protracted 
efl'ort. Some bulbs at first gave five or 
six new bulbs each year ancT they were 
slow to change this habit. It was about 
fourteen years before they took freely to 
the expansion doctrine, but now Mr. Bur- 
bank's trial plots show, in some cases, ten 
to fourteen large blooming bulbs and 
several ofF-sets each season around the 
old bullj. At the same time the old bulbs 
have increased in size so that it is com- 
mon to find them from two to six times 
as large as in the older varieties. The 
plants also produce seed which give 
bloom at half the age of seedlings of the 
old types and the blooming season is also 
extended so that flowers can be had 
nearly through the long California sum- 
mer. 

Of the flowers themselves words fail 
to describe the forms and shades which 
are appearing. In size they are grand — 
eight to ten inches in diameter is the 
measurement of some of the best single 
flowers; the petals are very broad and 
overlapping, so that a very solid bloom is 
produced. The coloring at this period of 
their development is fully equal to any 
amaryllis known, the general form and 
size are all that can be desired. Vigor 
has been secured which not only is in- 
volved in the size, rapidity of multiplica- 
tion, large scapes and thick petals which 
have been mentioned, but gives the plants 
a strong constitution which resists par- 
asitic attacks. This vigor is also a strong 
foundation upon which the selection now 
in hand will proceed. The colors now 
prevalent are solid crimson or nearly 
pure white or wonderful combinations in 
stripes of crimson, pink and white. Now 
comes the selection for clearness of color 
and markings. In short, Mr. Burbank 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



■11 




has his amaryllis highly and deeply edu- 
cated, but he will still add graces which 
will make them irresistible in the eyes of 
the connoisseur. 

With this ambition for one of his fa- 
vorite creations, however, their originator 
longs to have these new forms clustered 
around the cottage, as well as displayed 
upon the broad lawns of the mansion. To 
this end. the greater rapidity in the mul- 
tiplication of the bulb is a most import- 
ant contribution, for the prices now pre- 
vailing among florists for bulbs will be 
in time proportionally reduced. This 
achievement with the amaryllis shows 
well, as suggested above, how highly 
esthetic, sharply commercial and broadly 
humane considerations all unite in Mr. 
Burbank's work and demonstrate his pos- 
session of what is a puzzle to the world 
today — the up-to-date American spirit. 

Closely allied to the amaryllis and in- 
terwoven witli it in Mr. Burbank's work 
is the crinum, a grand flower, chieflv dis- 



tinguishable from the amaryllis by its 
longer perianth tube. The crinums are 
chiefly grown under glass, for the hardy 
species in northern climates are few. Mr. 
Burbank wisely conceived California con- 
ditions to be most favorable for uniting 
the charms of the greenhouse species 
with the hardiness of the open-air species 
to lead forth new forms which could be 
taught to endure garden exposures. At 
first he took up the training of his hardy 
parentage, choosing the Florida swamp 
lily (crinum Americanum) and for sev- 
eral years selected the finest seedlings 
that they might be best prepared for the 
high alliance he proposed for them. This 
estimable wildling of the Florida swamps 
and gardens showed that care, culture 
and selection would notably improve its 
growth, habit and bloom. Simultane- 
ously Mr. Burbank had growing in his 
greenhouse all the tender crinums he 
could secure, studying their different 
forms, colors and fragrance. Upon the 
bloom of the best hardy plants in the 
open air he used the pollen from the 
greenhouse varieties and splendid results 
were reached. Most beautiful flowers, 
improved in size and waxy whiteness, in 
breadth of petals and in fragrar.je ap- 
peared in large numbers upon stronger 
and more upright scapes and, best of all 
as events proved, the new- ones were 
hardy in the open air in California. The 
achievement in view was ^complished. 

Having thus carried t' amaryllis and 
the crinum along similai lines of im- 
provement, each by itself, a cross of the 
two was undertaken with strikingly sat- 
isfactory results. The crinum was pol- 
lenated with amaryllis belladonna and a 
true hybrid was secured with bloom rang- 
ing from pure white to deep rose, inclin- 
ing to crimson. The flowering is not so 
abundant as with the improved crinums, 
but the multiplication of the bulbs is 
very rapid. The hybrid shows its parent- 
age in a very notable way in the form 
and arrangement of its leaves. The 
leaves of belladonna rise from the earth 
with rounded ends and flattened against 
each other like plates ; crinum leaves 
clasp each other and are long and 
pointed. The hybrid has leaves with 
pointed ends, but with the upper parts, 
down to where they cluster, flat; then 
there is an ofl-set which clasps around 
like a crinum. giving the plant a very 



42 



LUTHER BURBAXK 



peculiar apiicarance, especially when 
grown in the greenhouse. The bulbs 
have necks like crinums, while still re- 
sembling in some respects the bella- 
donnas. Thus the hybrid presents a 
very interesting association of the sev- 
eral characters of its parentage. 

The splendid open-air growth of the 
calla in California, coupled with the 
memory of the affection which eastern 
people have for it as a house plant, in- 
duced Mr. Burbank to take it up very 
soon after coming to this state and he 
put much effort upon it, both by selec- 
tion and by crossing many species to se- 
cure combination of characters, as well 
as striking originality. He proceeded 
first by selection and grew many thou- 
sands of seedlings of the several forms 
of the common calla (Eichardia Afri- 
cana) securing varieties ranging all the 
way from giant to dwarf, the most im- 
portant named variety resulting was 
"Fragrance," which exhaled a pleasing 
perfume, while other callas usually are 
destitute of odors save those suggesting 
dankishness. It is a semi-dwarf variety 
and has become generally recognized 
among eastern florists as the most free 
blooming of all its group of calla va- 
rieties. Mr. Burbank has also raised 
thousands of seedlings of the spotted 
calla (albo-maculata), one of the most 
striking results being a variety which has 
not only spots, but broad stripes of yel- 
low and white. 

All these were, however, simple as 
compared with the grand combination 
of characters involved in the hybridiza- 
tion of several species, viz. : Hastata, the 
yellow "Pride of the Congo" ; Elliot- 
tiana, rich, dark yellow with spotted 
leaves ; Pentlandii, also rich yellow 
with dark purple spot ; Rehmanni, 
pink without and rose-purple with crim- 
son spot within ; Nelsoni, small, pale 
yellow and purple. Out of this wide 
crossing came "Lemon Giant," as a prod- 
uct of albo-maculata and hastata, while 
from the many crosses of the others 
named, various combinations have re- 
sulted which show many curious forms 
and almost startling flowers. Long 
hairy leaves, shades of purple, green and 
white on leaf stalks and leaves — color 
effects not existing on any cultivated 
plant. Some of the hybrids make bulbs 



eiglit to ten inches across and six to eight 
])ounds in weight and show leaves and 
flowers of proportionate vigor. The best 
of the old yellows are difficult to raise 
under ordinary conditions. Mr. Bur- 
Imnk has worked to get fine flowers and 
foliage and ease of growth. He has se- 
lected about twenty varieties with these 
characters, but as the most striking forms 
and qualities come from the second and 
third generations of seedlings after a 
cross, he is still continuing his effort with 
expectation of even more remarkable re- 
sults. 

Mr. Burliank's success with the canna 
is illustrative of the fact that he can se- 
cure notable improvements with flowers 
which have been greatly developed by 
others. The modern c-annas of dwarf 
habit and magnificent bloom include the 
French or Crozy type and the Italian or 
orchid-fliowered type, and striking im- 
provement of them gained by the addi- 
tion of the native American canna flac- 
cida to the foreign blood. Mr. Burbank 
was early in this work and secured strik- 
ing results, some of which have become 
famous. The "Burbank" canna, named 
by the Chicago florist, J. C. Vaughan, 
who secured the stock, now appears every- 
where in eastern catalogues as bearing 
"giant orchid-like flowers, the upper pet- 
als nieasuring fvilly seven inches across, 
a rich canary yellow with carmine spots." 
But the latest and widest distinction be- 
longs to the "Tarrytown," introduced by 
F. R. Pierson of the stopping place on 
tlie Hudson, whose name the flower bears. 
Space does not admit more than a sug- 
gestion of the glories of this California 
achievement. The critics say : 

"No variety approaches it for display 

* * it shows six times as many flowers 
for the same space as any other variety 

* * the flowers which are an exceed- 
ingly brilliant carmine-crimson, have de- 
cidedly more substance than any other 
variety and last for an unusually long 
time * * it is as much ahead of all 
other canuas today for bedding as Mme. 
Crozy was ahead of all at the time of its 
introduction." At the Pan-American ex- 
position, Mr. William Scott, in charge of 
floriculture, said : "There has never been 
a bed in the country with as much bloom 
as Tarrytown had." 

Soon after he began with cannas Mr. 




QLADIOLDS "CALIFORNIA" Fir.ST VAniETY WITH FLOWERS ENCLOSING THE STEl 



44 



LUTHEK BUEBANK 



Biirbank took iip tigridias, working for 
size of flower and bulb and vigor of plant, 
and crossing to secure new colors which 
would endure sunshine. He has obtained 
wonderful striped, lined and flaked va- 
rieties which are new and have been well 
received. Ten or twelve years' work with 
dahlias, including the popular cactus- 
flowered type, has resulted in achieve- 
ments not vet ready for announcement. 



Though in the floral department of his 
work Mr. Burbank has apparently given 
greater attention to herbaceous than to 
woody plants, he lacks not achievement 
in the latter class. Of roses he has flow- 
ered ten to fifteen thousand seedlings, 
out of which three worthy varieties have 
been introduced. By using the hardy 
Hermosa as a joint parent with the tea 
roses he has secured varieties popular at 




ONE OF TEN THOUSAJTO HTBKID SEEDLINQ LILIES 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



45 



the east because hardy, where 
the teas fail. 

Mr. Burbank has produced 
a new race of bell-shaped cle- 
matis with broadly bell- shaped 
flowers exquisitely frosted and 
with blending of colors and 
shadings not found elsewhere 
in the clematis family. With 
the double clematis of the 
Jackmani and Lanuginosa 
types he has reached brilliant 
results. The clematis experts, 
Jackson and Perkins, in writ- 
ing for the Cyclopedia of 
American Horticulture, men- 
tion the "Duchess of Edin- 
burgh" as aboiit the most de- 
sirable and best known in this 
country, but add : "The Snow- 
drift, by Luther Burbank, 
promises to excel it in both 
floriferousness and vigor of 
growth." 

In this connection mention may be 
made of the columbines because Mr. Bur- 
bank has succeeded in making them so 
nearly like clematis that he calls his new 
race aquilegia clematidea. They are of 
immense size, even to three inches in 
diameter of bloom, and are very striking 
in that the backward extension of the 
petals into spurs has been completely 
suppressed. As it has been usual to 
classify aquilegia species upon the length 
and form of the spurs, these curtailed 
flowers must have a new class. 

It is manifestly impossible to make 
even a complete suggestion of Mr. Bur- 
bank's work with flowers. The group of 
which the Shasta daisy was only a fore- 
runner must be passed with reference to 
earlier mention of its origin and char- 
acter given in Sunset for February, 
1903. Other chrysanthemum-daisies are 
in training. Larger size, perpetual bloom- 
ing and ease of propagation are being se- 
cured. Colors will be multiplied. The 
lemon yellow now secured will be carried 
to other yellows. The pink, which is just 
disclosing itself, will be deepened to red. 
Other wild species of chrysanthemum 
from other continents are being worked 
into the strain and results cannot even be 
prophesied. Whether one shall put a 
daisy in one's hat or piit one's hat under 
a daisy is a question of the future. 




EW DOUBLE GLADIOLUS THEER-FOURTHS NATURAL SIZE 



Perhaps no more interesting communi- 
cation can be made than that Mr. Bur- 
bank is now giving a leading share of his 
time to the systematic elevation of Cali- 
fornia wild flowers. He began that way, 
as stated, but he turned aside a little to 
work the wonders with exotics which 
have been mentioned, without, however, 
forsaking the beauties which so interested 
and charmed him when he came to this 
state. For example, he has never failed 
to remember the lilies. He found at flrst 
that the California tiger lily (Pardali- 
num) had nearly as many differences as 
it had locations and then there are so 
many other lilies native and foreign. 
Cultivation, selection, hybridization, in- 
troduction of foreign blood and then se- 
lection again, then second and third gen- 
eration seedlings and selection again, un- 
til all the known lilies of the world had 
brought their ancestral characters to the 
enrichment of his working collection and 
it did seem at one time that the lilies 
must need show their gratitude by bloom- 
ing over his resting place, for what man 
can safely add the study of half a million 
seedling hybrid lilies to his other occu- 
pations ? Lily growers from all the world 
liave stood dazed — intoxicated with the 
marvels of beauty and the perfumes of 
this acreage of new lilies in full bloom. 

But Mr. Burbank quietly pursued his 
even course through this bewilderiuH- un- 




AQUILEGIA CLEMATIDEA MR. BDKBANK'S NEW CLASS OF COLUMBINES, WITH CLEMATIS-LIKE 

FLOWERS (ABOUT ONE-FOUBTH NATURAL SIZE) 



MAN, METHODS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



47 



dertaking. From fifty to one hundred of 
the half million were selected and the 
rest destroyed. These are now being 
grown under the supervision of Mr. Carl 
Purdy, who knows the lily in all its 
haunts and in all its whims, and the end 
is to come in time. It will be a floral rev- 
elation to say the least of it. There will 
be selected types — several of them. There 
will be flower stems all the way from one 
foot to nine or ten feet high, thickly set 
with bloom and forms and shades widely 
various, and all of them perfumed and 
easily grown. There may be in each type 
something to merit what Miss Alice 
Eastwood of the California Academy of 
Sciences said of a cross of Humboldtii 
and Parryi : "It is the best lily in the 
world." Miss Eastwood could not help 
talking just like other people when her 
love of the beautiful overcame her scien- 
tiflc reserve. But what else could any 
one say of a grand pale lemon-yellow 
lily, shaped like one of the new amaryl- 
lises with large, flat, slightly revoluted 
petals, pure in color, exquisite in form, 
grand in size and rich in perfume ? But 
the lilies overpower us. 

But what do we gain by flying from 
them to contemplate the glories which 
are coming to the brodiasas, these pro- 
fuse beauties of the California spring- 
time ? Mr. Burbank has been long grow- 
ing seedlings from the best-selected 
plants. He has already secured blooms 
from four to six times as large as com- 
monly found in nature. He has a white 
brodiaea with great keeping quality, hold- 
ing its goodness a month in water as a 
cut flower. He has bulbs as large as an 
inch and a half, sending three or four 
bloom stalks instead of one or two as in 
nature. He has new forms of the flower 
appearing and is getting ready for cross- 
ing and reselection which promise strik- 
ing results. Similar improvements are 
being achieved with a host of California 
wild flowers. Some of them are already 
popular abroad, either in the greenhouse 
or for summer bedding. To present al- 
ready popular plants in vastly improved 
form is to meet a warm welcome. Highly 
esteemed then as California native plants 
are, Mr. Burbank will add to their hon- 
ors and distinctions. Much of his time 



in the immediate future will be given to 
this efllort. 

It is not possible in this connection 
even to list the plants now in his school, 
but the way he selects his pupils is too 
significant to pass over. It is his custom 
to roam the fields wherever a certain 
flower grows naturally, looking closely 
into the faces of all blooms and taking 
note of the growth, habit and vigor of in- 
dividual plants. He does this slowly and 
carefully, sometimes passing half a day 
on half an acre in such comparative study 
until he decides upon the most perfect 
plant of the kind which nature has jjro- 
duced in that locality. If it does not 
show seed at that moment, the plant is 
taken up if the flowers are well ad- 
vanced, for seeds will often mature with 
the impulse remaining in the drying 
plant. If this is not likely the plant is 
marked and revisited later. Whatever is 
best to do to get the seed from this best 
of all wild individuals is undertaken and 
from this seed the first class of freshmen 
is brought into his floral colleffe. This 
selection for a start is half the battle, 
whether it be for vigor or for tendency 
toward desirable variation or for other 
reason. 

And then how gentle is his care and 
culture for the promising pupils and how 
sharp his punishment for the laggards — 
for such the death penalty. The former 
cannot be better described than in his 
own words, which serve also as mention 
of his achievement with one of our most 
popular wild flowers : 

"We say to our Miss Golden Cup or 
Miss Esclischoltzia, as the bon ton call 
her. 'This beautiful dress of bright gold- 
en hue which you have always worn on 
all occasions is very becoming to you, and 
exceedingly appropriate to this land of 
perpetual sunshine, but. Miss Queen 
Golden Cup, if you will sometimes adorn 
yourself with a dress of white, pale 
cream, pink or crimson we could love you 
still better than we do.' Now, Miss Esch- 
scholtzia, though having her family tastes 
and characteristics very thoroughly fixed, 
still belongs to the great Papaver race, 
which has often shown itself willing to 
adapt itself to the discipline of new con- 
ditions, even at first distasteful in the 
extreme. So, after taking Miss Golden 



48 



LUTHER BURBANK 



Cup into our gardens and constantly 
malfing these suggestions to her, she hes- 
itatingly consents to don a dress a shade 
lighter in color, and then lighter still, 
until now we have her not only in dresses 
of gold, but in deepest orange, light and 
dark shades of cream, purest snowy 
white, or all these combined, and by con- 
stant selection and various educational 
influences in this line she will adorn 
herself in a dress of almost any color 
which may be desirable and nt the same 



time seems to take the greatest pleasure- 
in improving herself in every grace of 
form and feature." 

Here, then, for the present the reader 
takes leave of Mr. Burbank and his work. 
It is fitting that we should withdraw 
while the state flower of California 
sheds its charming radiance about him, 
for no man more devotedly loves the 
land of his adoption and there is none 
wlinm Californians delight more to 
JKiiior. 




y 



M 



THE BUHBANK CAK.NA THREE- FOURTHS NATURAL SIZE 



SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY 



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PASO ROBLES, CAL. 

GEO. W. HOLSTON Agent 

PHILADELPHIA, PA.— 109 South Third Street 

II. .r. SMITH Agent 

PHOENIX, ARIZ. 

M. O. BICKNELL Agent 

PITTSBURG, PA. -515 Park Building 

G. G. HERRING General Agent 

POMONA, CAL. 

G. L. TRAVIS Commercial Agent 

PORTLAND, OR. 

W. E. COMAN, General Passenger Agent, 
Lines in Oregon 
REDDING, CAL. 

R. A. MARTIN Agent 

REDLANDS, CAL. 

.7. E. GUY Agent 

RENO,NEV. 

,J M. FULTON DiT. Pass. 1 Fgt. Agent 

RIVERSIDE, CAL. 

.r. R. GRAY Cv\ ercial Agent 

ROTTERDAM, NETH.-92 Wynha' I, S. S. 

RUD. FALCK General I opean Agent 

SACRAMENTO, CAL. 

C. .1. .TONES. .. .DiT. Pass, ap i-eight Agent 
SALEM, OR. 

\VM. MERRIMAN . . . Freight i Cicket Agent 
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH— 201 ». Street 

D. K. GRAY meral Agent 

SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 

.1. MCMILLAN Division enger Agent 

SAN BERNARDINO, CAL. 

FRANK DONNATIN Agent 

SAN DIEGO, CAL.— 901 Fifth Str^ 

F. M. FRYE Cc ercial Agent 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. -613 Mar; Street 

G. \V. FLETCHER meral Agent 

A. S. MANN Picket Agent 

W. McMURRAY. . .Agent Inf 01 tion Bureau 

SAN JOSE, CAL.— 16 South First f set 

I'AUL SHOUP. .Div. Pass, and ' eight Agent 



LIVERPOOL. ENG.— 25 Water Street 

RUD. F..LCK General European Agent 

LONDON, ENG.— 

49 Leadenhall St 18 Cockspur Street 

RUD. FALCK • i-al European Agent 

LOS ANGELES, iJ'.T,.- - i i ' _ re I 

G. A. PARK ^ . -t. 

MARYSVIILF 

R. F. WA'l'SON Agent 

MONTEREY, MEX. 

H. N. GIBSON Commercial Agent 

NEW YORK, N. Y.- 

349 Broadway and 1 Battery Place 

L. H. NUTTING. .. .Gen. Eastern Pass. Agent' 

L. J. SPENCE. . . . Gen. Eastern Freight Agent 
NEW ORLEANS, LA. 

F. S. DECKER Asst Gen. Pass. Agent 

NOGALES, ARIZ. 

H. JORDAN Agent 

OAKLAND, CAL. -468 Tenth Street 

G. T. B'ORSYTH, Dlv. Pass, and Freight Agent 
OGDEN, UTAH 

C. A. HENRY • Ticket Agent 

W. H. CHEVERS Freight Agent 



SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEX. 

EDO. S,\DA . . . .Trav. Pass, and eight Agent 
SANTA BARBARA. CAL. , . 

E. SlIILLINGSBURG . . . . Cotrm, rcial Agent 

SANTA CRUZ, CAL. 

J. \V. LEWIS Agent 

SANTA MONICA, CAT,. 

A. W. McP; N Agent 

SEATTLE, WAS oi8 First Ave 

K. r. ELL1.S....'^ ... neral Agent 

Deral Agent 

J. D. FISH Agent 

SYRACUSE, N. Y.-129 South Franklin Street 

F. T. BROOKS New York State Agent 

TACOMA, WASH.— 1108 Pacific Avenue 

ROBERT LEE Agent 



VISALIA, CAL. 

W. .ST. .T. CAUDRON Agent 

WASHINGTON, D. C— 511 Penn. Avenue 

A. .T. POSTON. Gen. Agent, Sunset Excursions 
WOODLAND, CAL. 

1. A. MORRIS Agent 



Deacriptiie literature reyarding the territory traversed by Southern Pacific Company lines, and 
information concerning tichcts, routes of travel, sleeping car accommodations, etc., can he obtained on 
aitpUcation, by letter or in person, to any agent of the Southern Pacific. 




LBMv'15 



